Where Eagles Dare
by Rhovark
Summary: AU! Harry and his twin brother Alan go to Hogwarts and meet Neville Longbottom, the Boy who Lived. Arrogant, stupid and demanding, he was blinded by his fame. Harry's views on him threaten to cause a rift between him and his family. Ravenclaw! Smart! Powerful! Harry. Rating may change
1. Getting Ready

**A/N This is my first work here, so don't be too mean :) Based on the reviews I receive for this, I may/may not continue with it. If I do continue, it will be a novel length story. I will try to update weekly, probably on Saturdays or Sundays.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, JK Rowling owns all**

"Mum! They're here!" Alan ran downstairs, two steps at a time, as soon as the owls appeared at the window. "Mum! Harry!"

Alan Potter rushed into the kitchen, saw the owls at the window, and frantically tried to open it, failing miserably. Harry, twin of Al, a small bespectacled boy with jet-black messy hair strolled into the kitchen, looked at his brother's futile attempts and laughed.

"Al, the handle goes the other way,". Sheepishly, the boy opened the window to let the owls in, and two letters were dropped on the table. Both boys snatched one immediately.

"Harry, our Hogwarts letters are here!" Harry opened the envelope and a letter fell out.

_Dear Mr Potter_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Minerva McGonagall _

_Deputy Headmistress_

Another piece of parchment fell out the envelope.

_First-year students will require: _

_ sets of plain work robes (black) _

_ plain pointed hat (black) for day wear _

_ pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar) _

_ winter cloak (black, with silver fastenings) _

_Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags._

COURSE BOOKS

_All students should have a copy of each of the following:_

_The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk_

_A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot_

_Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling_

_A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch_

_One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore_

_Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger_

_Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander_

_The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble_

OTHER EQUIPMENT

_1 wand _

_1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2) _

_1 set glass or crystal phials _

_1 telescope _

_1 set brass scales_

_Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad._

_PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS_

Lily Potter, a tall woman, with dark red hair and startlingly green eyes walked into the room.

"Oh, good. Your letters arrived. We'll go to Diagon Alley tomorrow to get these books for Al. Harry, you already have these, don't you?"

"Yeah, can I get more books though?" Harry asked.

"Alright, now run along and play," came the answer. The two boys, excited, ran off. Alan raced outside, his long auburn hair billowing behind him, to fly his broom, while Harry went back upstairs to his room. Once inside, he picked up, off his bed, the book he had been reading before, 'A Standard book of Spells (Grade 4) by Miranda Goshawk'.

Over the past few years, while his Dad had been teaching Al to play Quiddich, Harry had read school books, as he was a bit of a bookworm, and fascinated by the idea of magic. His bookish tendencies came from boredom, as there wasn't much to do in Godric's Hollow, and interactions with other children were scarce, due to the Fidelius Charm on their house. Many wanted the Potters dead, for the perceived role they played in the fall of the Dark Lord. However, they played no part in the fall of Lord Voldemort. That honour was given to the Longbottoms.

On Halloween night, ten years previously, Lord Voldemort blasted down the front door of Longbottom Manor, and murdered Frank and Alice Longbottom in cold blood. After this, he walked upstairs, into baby Neville's room, and tried to kill him too, using the Killing Curse. But the curse rebounded, marking Neville with a lighting-bolt scar on his forehead, destroying the Dark Lord's body and blasting the manor into pieces.

'The Boy who Lived' as he was being called, was sent to live with his Grandmother, in isolation to protect them from Voldemort's followers. Unable to find them, the Death-Eaters turned to the closest friends of Frank and Alice- James and Lily Potter, and tortured them for information. They had just come out of hiding, as they believed themselves safe, as Voldemort was vanquished.

Due to the speedy arrival of the Aurors, the Death-Eaters were captured before they killed anyone, and were sent to Azkaban. The effect that it had on Lily and James was immense. Paranoid with worry, they never went anywhere alone after that. James only left the house for work, while Lily rarely left at all. They only travelled by floo, and even then, only when necessary so that they were never out in the open, and trips to Diagon Alley were kept to a minimum.

A downside of this, was that Harry and Al were almost never able to play with other children. Not that Harry minded much, he had always preferred his own company to that of others. To keep them busy, a Quiddich Pitch and a Library were built. Harry had read all of the books that were deemed 'age-appropriate' by the time he was 9, after which time he took other books to his room, hid them, and read them at night. By his 11th Birthday, he had memorised the incantations and want movements to all of the spells in his first, second and third year books and the recipes for all potions up to and including third year, and his parents were none the wiser.

Nonetheless, Harry was still looking forward to his trip to Diagon Alley, as he was getting his wand. This would allow him to put his knowledge into practice, as he could perform all of the spells that he had learnt.

He sat down on his chair, and turned to the last page he read. '_The Summoning Charm. Incantation- Accio (Ack-ee-oh)'..._

_/\/\/\/\/\_

The next day, James, Lily, Harry and Al flooed to a mobbed Diagon Alley. It was decided that they would get wands first. They walked into Ollivander's and rung the bell.

"Ah, Mr Potter. 11 inches, Mahogany, Dragon Heartstring core, is it not? And Mrs Potter, lovely to see you. 10 ¼ inches, Willow, Unicorn Tail Hair? Ah, and these young boys must be needing wands," Garrick Ollivander climbed down from his stepladder and walked over to the counter. "Well, who first?" Al stepped forward nervously.

"Try this one, Mr Potter," Al waved the wand, but nothing happened. "No, definitely not! This one? 8 inches, Unicorn hair core?" Nothing happened. This continued for ten or fifteen minutes, before Al found one that suited him. When Harry stepped forward, and went through the same process, trying almost every wand in the shop. Eventually, he picked one up, 11 inches, Holly, Phoenix feather core. As soon as it touched his hand, a bright light shone from the end of it, almost blinding everyone in the shop.

"Curious, very curious," Ollivander said mysteriously. Everyone looked at him confused.

"Excuse me, Mr Ollivander, but what's curious, exactly?" Harry asked.

"Why my boy, I remember every wand I've ever sold, and it just so happens that the brother of yours belonged to the darkest wizard who ever lived..." The atmosphere in the shop darkened considerably.

"So, the feather from Harry's wand comes from the same phoenix as You Know Who's wand did?" Al asked, awestruck.

_/\/\/\/\/\_

After leaving the shop, Lily went to the Apothecary to pick up potions ingredients, while James took the boys to Madam Malkin's to get fitted for robes.

"Hogwarts? Just wait over here," a woman whom Harry surmised must be Madam Malkin said rather impatiently. Harry and Al joined a short queue. When it was their turn, Al went first. At this point, a boy with slicked back blond hair walked into the shop and joined the queue.

"Hello," he said confidently, to which Harry mumbled back "Hi,".

"Are you going into first-year at Hogwarts too?" When Harry nodded he continued, "What house do you reckon you'll be in then? I'll probably be in Slytherin, my family have been for the past 9 generations, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad. If I ended up in Hufflepuff or Gryffindor I'd probably kill myself, wouldn't you?" Harry, liking the boy less and less as the conversation continued, replied.

"Ehm.. I don't know, both of my parents were Gryffindors, but I think I'm more suited for Ravenclaw." At this, the boy laughed.

"I'm Draco Malfoy by the way, and you are?"

"Harry Potter,"

"A Potter? From what my Father has told me about your family, I would never have guessed that you were one of _them._"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Harry asked, confused, and slightly annoyed.

"Well, whenever Father mentions the Potters, its usually accompanied by an insult, such as 'filthy blood traitors' or 'muggle lovers'. From these, I assumed that you would all be slightly less.. normal," Draco said, unsurely.

"Thanks.. I guess," Harry replied. He wasn't quite sure what to think of Draco Malfoy. His father, Lucius, was one of the wealthiest people in Wizarding Britain, and according to James, one of the followers of the Dark Lord. However, while Draco appeared to have been force-fed those views about blood purity, he seemed unsure about them, after seeing Harry. At this point, Madam Malkin appeared to take Harry in for fitting.

"See you on the train!" Draco called.

_/\/\/\/\/\_

That evening, after a particularly long and dull session at the Wizengamot, Albus Dumbledore was just about to turn in, when he saw an owl approach through the arched window of his office. He took the letter, and sent the owl off with a treat.

_Albus,_

_Today, the second wand, whose core came from your Phoenix, was purchased by a Mr. Harry Potter. As you may recall, the other one was bought my a Mr. Tom Riddle. Make of this what you will._

_Garrick Ollivander_

To say that Dumbledore was shocked would be an understatement. Harry Potter was one of the children that the prophecy could refer to, but he assumed that when Neville Longbottom vanquished Lord Voldemort as a baby, that he was the one the prophecy referred to. The assumption was also made that , Neville would collect that wand. _But as the muggles say, 'assumptions make an ass out of you and me'. With the twin wand, could Harry be classed as Voldemort's equal?_ Dumbledore sighed. There wasn't enough information to make an accurate guess. He would just have to keep an extra-close eye on both children when they arrived at Hogwarts in a month.

_/\/\/\/\/\_

Harry and Al had a few weeks after their trip to Diagon Alley before they began school. Al spent these days flying in the garden, practicing Quiddich. Harry, who didn't see the point of Quiddich in the first place, found it doubly pointless, as first-years couldn't join their house team. When Harry mentioned this to Al, he was told to shut up and go back to his books.

While his brother was enjoying the summer weather, Harry was practicing the spells that he'd memorised, with great success. He had no trouble with any of the first to third year spells for Charms, Transfiguration and Defence against the Dark Arts. While in Diagon Alley, he picked up a book on Animagi, and was entranced by the idea. Wandless transformation into an animal seemed to have a plethora of uses- disguises, travel etc. However, Harry couldn't attempt to become one until he made a potion to find out his form. His mother's potions laboratory didn't stock the necessary ingredients, so he would have to wait.

His wand was another subject about which he thought often. Ollivander's words came back to him- "the brother of yours belonged to the darkest wizard who ever lived..."

Did this mean anything? Would Voldemort consider him a target now? These were the questions that Harry asked himself. He could come up with no answers and eventually put it down to an unhappy coincidence.

_/\/\/\/\/\_

The morning of September the First arrived, and Harry awoke at five, excited and jumpy. He shot out of bed, looked at the clock and growled in frustration. _Five more hours! If that clock goes any slower..._ To pass the time, he double-checked his trunk, and saw a cloak, that hadn't been there before. It was a silvery-grey, and seemed to shimmer in the early morning light. There was a note on top of it.

_This has been passed down, first-born son to first-born son for generations. Don't tell your brother or mother, act like nothing happened in the morning and use it well._

Cautiously, Harry picked it up and tried it on. It was massive, large enough to fit several people underneath it. He looked down. His body had disappeared! _Wait, that would make it.. an invisibility cloak?_ Impressed, he took the cloak off, and tried covering parts of his body with it and, sure enough, they disappeared. After a while, he put it back in his trunk, thinking about all of the new opportunities the cloak provided. He could explore Hogwarts at night, eavesdrop, and read in the library into the early hours of the morning. It was, without a doubt, the best gift he had ever received.

When the rest of the family rose, a couple of hours later, Harry left his room and wandered downstairs for breakfast. In the kitchen, everyone was sitting down. James was reading the _Daily Prophet_, Lily was tucking into a bacon sandwich and Al was literally bouncing in his seat.

"Harry! We're going to Hogwarts, We're going to Hogwarts!" he chanted in a singsong voice. Harry looked at him incredulously for his childish antics, then sat down and served himself some bacon.

When they reached Kings Cross, a couple of hours later, Lily was beginning to cry.

"My baby boys are all grown up!" she sobbed, engulfing Harry in a bone-crushing hug.

"Mum! You're embarrassing us in-front of our new classmates," Al moaned. Letting Harry go, she grabbed Al and took him into a similar hug. Harry turned to his father, who gave him a gentle one.

Harry whispered in his ear, "Thanks for the cloak," In response, James looked at him and winked.

"Go on, you're going to be late," his Dad said, hurrying them onto the train.

"Promise us you'll write!" Lily said, in-between sobs. Both boys shouted "Promise!" and walked onto the train.

"Shall we find a compartment then?" Al asked. Harry nodded, and the boys dragged their trunks down the train. Eventually, after searching most of the carriages, they found an empty one and sat down. Immediately, Harry took out his book on Animagi and started reading, while Al read 'Quiddich Quarterly'.

Soon after the train left the station, a chubby boy, with dark brown hair opened the compartment door, swaggered in and sat down. Harry briefly looked up from his book.

"And you are?" he asked the new boy, not at all fazed

by his confidence.

Looking at Harry as if he was insane he said, "Neville Longbottom, 'The Boy who Lived'. How did you not recognise me? I'm the most famous and powerful wizard in Britain! I defeated 'You Know Who' when I was 1 year old, with my amazing magical talent,"

Al looked up from his magazine in awe, mouth wide open, and let out a "Wow," while Harry snorted in derision. "Right. So it wasn't a fluke then?" Neville opened his mouth to retort back when a small, timid looking girl with straight, brown hair and freckles on her nose opened the compartment door.

"Hi," she began unsurely. "Can I please sit here? Everywhere else is full,"

Neville looked like he wanted to speak, but Harry quickly cut in. "OK, we have enough room," She walked into the compartment and sat down, nervously.

"My name's Harry Potter, the redhead across from me is my twin Al and the chubby one who was in the process of telling us how brilliant he is, is Neville Longbottom," At the last comment she giggled and replied:

"I'm Stephanie Jones, but most people just call me Steph," Annoyed that the attention was off him, Neville said, "These two buffoons have no idea who I am, imagine that! I'm only more famous than Dumbledore himself!" At this she nodded and said, "Yeah, imagine that!" she sarcastically replied. Harry snorted, while Al looked at her in shock for being rude to 'The Boy who Lived'. Neville didn't catch the sarcasm and continued his monologue. "Of course, due to my skill, I've received extra magical tutoring since I was eight, and I will probably be top of my class at Hogwarts..."

Steph, still looked confused, but Neville was oblivious to the others, so she quietly asked Harry, "Why is he famous? My parents aren't magical so I have no idea what he's talking about,"

"He, is the result of a fluke, where someone tried to kill him when he was a baby and ended up killing themselves. He is now of the opinion that he is a demigod, and everyone should bow to him in respect. While my brother is stupid enough to comply to this, I hope that others aren't so stupid. I'm sure, that before we arrive he'll tell you his life story, regardless of whether you want to hear it," Harry responded sardonically.

When she didn't respond, he continued, "What house do you think you'll be in?"

"Houses?" she asked

Inwardly kicking himself for forgetting her lack of knowledge, he said, "At Hogwarts there are four houses, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. Gryffindors are supposedly brave and chivalrous, Ravenclaws are intelligent, Hufflepuffs are loyal, and Slytherins are cunning. Most of my family was in Gryffindor, so I could be there, but Ravenclaw's also a possibility."

"I'm not sure where I'll go," she began, "But Ravenclaw sounds most likely, as I was quite good at my school work in primary school. I don't really mind, as long as I'm in a different house to _him_," she finished, looking at Neville, who still hadn't finished his speech. Al was hanging off his every word.

For the rest of the journey, Harry and Steph talked about anything and everything. Harry was curious about growing up in the muggle world, while Steph was interested how wizards lived. Steph seemed to be nice and shy when talking to people she didn't know, but to Harry, she was witty and sarcastic, but in a funny way, rather than a mean way. When the trolley came, Harry bought a box of 'Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans', and the two had great fun trying out the flavours.

At one point, Neville tried to steal one, but Harry slapped his hand away.

"I'm surprised that the great 'Boy who Lived' needs a mundane thing such as nourishment," Harry's voice dripping with sarcasm. Steph giggled, but Al glared at him.

"Harry, be more respectful to him! You and the rest of the Wizarding World owe him your lives!" he reprimanded.

Harry narrowed his eyes "Maybe if he wasn't such an arrogant sod, then I would be nicer to him. If his arrogance was even justified, I wouldn't mind, but he's probably about as powerful as his toad," At that moment, a toad jumped out of Neville's pocked and ran out into the corridor.

"Trevor!" Neville shouted, and he ran out into the corridor to chase his toad.

_/\/\/\/\/\_

When the train arrived, Harry, Al and Steph climbed off onto the busy platform. Luckily for Harry and Steph, Neville didn't return after he lost his toad, so they were allowed to enjoy the rest of their journey in peace.

"Firs' years over 'ere, Firs' years over 'ere," a rather large man holding a lamp called. The trio walked over. Neville was already there, telling his story to a large group of first years.

"..and then, 'You Know Who' turned to me, and said "You boy, are far too powerful to be allowed to live," and I said.."

"Longbottom!" Harry shouted over. The group turned round and stared at him. "How on earth could you talk to him when you were only a baby?" Neville shot daggers at him, then continued.

"It's because I was so powerful. Powerful wizards can talk at younger ages. So, back to the story, I said back to him.."

"Liar," Harry muttered under his breath.

"C'mon, the boats are over 'ere, no more than four to a boat. I'm Hagrid, the gamekeeper at Hogwarts." The boats were old, and to Harry, they looked unsafe. The first-years looked at the boats unsurely.

"C'mon now, don't be shy. The boats safe enough." said Hagrid. Harry, Steph and Al all climbed into the one boat. The blond boy from Madam Malkin's climbed into their boat as well.

"Draco," Harry said, nodding his head.

"Potter," came the response. They started rowing out onto the lake. "Longbottom's quite something, isn't he? He thinks he's something special."

"You didn't have to share a compartment with him though, we couldn't hear ourselves think," Harry replied

"Unlucky, at least I'll never have to see him at Hogwarts, since he won't be in Slytherin." Draco said.

"Stop being so mean to Neville, I think he's alright," Al snapped. "Better than you, you want to be a Slytherin scum-bag!"

Draco laughed derisively. "Potter, you never told me your brother was a fanboy." To this Harry had no response. He didn't want to be mean to his brother, but what Draco said was true. Al just glared at him.

Soon, they turned a corner, round some rocks, and got their first view of Hogwarts. A silhouette against the moonlit sky, it was the most magical thing Harry had ever seen, with its tall towers and majestic portcullis.

After a while, they reached the underground harbour and docked the boats. Everyone seemed relieved to be on dry land again. Hagrid led them up various sets of stairs through the castle. There were paintings covering all of the walls, _and they moved!_ After a few minutes of wandering through the candle-lit corridors, they reached a set of wooden double-doors. In front of them, stood a stern looking woman wearing green robes, with her hair back in a tight bun.

"These are the firs' years Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid, who then wandered off.

"Thank-you Hagrid," the stern woman replied. "My name is Professor McGonagall and I am a teacher here at Hogwarts. In a matter of minutes, you will be led into the Great Hall to be sorted. There are four houses- Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. The Sorting Hat will decide where to place you. For good behaviour, you will be awarded points for your house. For bad behaviour, points will be taken away. The house with the most points at the end of the year will be awarded the house cup. Now, I must get back to the feast. I will come back in a few minutes for you. I suggest you use this time to smarten yourselves up." Without giving anyone a chance to say anything, she opened the doors and walked into the hall.

Immediately, the students started talking amongst themselves. Harry and Steph stood together, not saying much.

Draco Malfoy stepped forward, with a troll-like figure on either side of him and loudly said, "So it's true then, what they were saying on the train. Neville Longbottom's come to Hogwarts. I must say, given your reputation, I expected somewhat more.." At this Harry laughed loudly.

"Shut up Malfoy, at least _his_ family isn't filled with Death-Eater scum" Al shouted at him.

"No, but my family is one thing that his isn't- alive," Everyone gasped, Neville looked close to tears and Harry let out a cruel laugh. For this he received several glares, the most prominent coming from his brother.

"What? He deserved it! He is an arrogant pig, who needs to be knocked down a few pegs," Harry reasoned. More glares came his way. Beside him, Steph stayed silent and looked at the ground.

Harry was saved from further scrutiny be the reappearance of Professor McGonagall, who led them into the hall. It was massive, with four long tables running down the hall, and the teacher's table on a platform at the end of the hall. The ceiling looked like the sky on a clear night.

A bushy haired girl beside Harry said loudly, "Its not actually the night sky, its just enchanted. I read about it in 'Hogwarts, a History',"

At the front of the hall was a single seat, just in-front of the staff table, with an old, pointed hat sitting on it. "When I call your name, come forward, and put the hat on your head and it will decide where to put you."

A red-haired boy, who was one of Neville's followers shouted, "A hat? All we have to do is put on an old hat? My brother told me we had to fight a mountain troll. I'm going to kill him," As soon as he finished speaking, the Sorting Hat burst into song.

___Oh you may not think me pretty,  
But don't judge on what you see,  
I'll eat myself if you can find  
A smarter hat than me.  
You can keep your bowlers black,  
Your top hats sleek and tall,  
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat  
And I can cap them all.  
There's nothing hidden in your head  
The Sorting Hat can't see,  
So try me on and I will tell you  
Where you ought to be._

You might belong in Gryffindor,  
Where dwell the brave at heart,  
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry  
Set Gryffindors apart;  
You might belong in Hufflepuff,  
Where they are just and loyal,  
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true  
And unafraid of toil;  
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,  
if you've a ready mind,  
Where those of wit and learning,  
Will always find their kind;  
Or perhaps in Slytherin  
You'll make your real friends,  
Those cunning folks use any means  
To achieve their ends.

So put me on! Don't be afraid!  
And don't get in a flap!  
You're in safe hands (though I have none)  
For I'm a Thinking Cap!

McGonagall started to read out names from a long piece of parchment. Students walked up to the chair, put on the hat and after a while, it shouted out a house. Firstly, Abbot, Hannah was sorted into Hufflepuff, followed by Bones, Susan. Soon, Jones, Stephanie was called out. Harry whispered 'good luck' and nervously, she walked up. Almost as soon as the hat touched her head, it shouted "Ravenclaw!" The Ravenclaw table erupted into cheers. Next came Longbottom, Neville. As soon as the name was called, almost everyone in the hall started whispering.

"_The _Neville Longbottom?"

"The Boy who Lived has come to Hogwarts?"

Nervously, Neville walked up confidently, and placed the hat on his head. Silence followed for about ten minutes, and as each minute passed, his confident façade seemed to disappear and was replaced with a worried look. Eventually, the hat decided on "Gryffindor!" and a relieved Neville walked over to the Gryffindor table.

Over the next few minutes, others were sorted. Malfoy, Draco was put into Slytherin. Next on the list was Potter, Alan, who was immediately sorted into Gryffindor, and went over to sit beside Neville.

"Potter, Harry," McGonagall shouted out. Harry walked up, stoic, but shaking with nerves. _What if it wants to put me in Slytherin?, _he thought. _Dad would kill me._ He sat on the stool and put on the hat. Immediately, he heard a voice inside his head and jumped. _Hmm, plenty of courage, you would make a good Gryffindor, boy. But there's intelligence too, and a desire to learn. Better be_, "Ravenclaw!"

**A/N Thanks for reading, please review.**


	2. The First Day

**Disclaimer: JKR owns the rights to this story**

"Ravenclaw!" The Ravenclaw table erupted in cheers. Relieved, Harry ran over and took the seat at the end, next to Steph and the other first years. Eventually, the Sorting ended with Zabini, Blaise being sorted into Slytherin and the feast begun. Plates of every type of food imaginable appeared out of thin air. Harry filled his plate up with more food than he could possibly eat, and began to work his way through it.

Three boys sitting across from Harry and Steph introduced themselves as Michael Corner, Terry Boot and Anthony Goldstein. However, despite their friendly attitudes, they still seemed to be fairly cold towards Harry after the incident with Neville. Harry wasn't bothered with that though. He was becoming friendly with Steph and, if necessary, he could survive without friends like he had for the previous eleven years. Steph was looking uncomfortable, surrounded by all these people and seemed to be trying to get out of a conversation with Padma Patil and Su Li, who were talking animatedly about classes.

"I think that Transfiguration sounds really interesting, don't you? The art of turning one material into another just seems fascinating," Padma said, looking at Steph.

"Er..yes, fascinating," she responded uncomfortably. Noticing her discomfort, Harry whispered in her ear,

"Steph, what's wrong?"

"What? Oh, nothing, nothing's wrong"

"Really? You can tell me,"

"It's just.. I'm not really comfortable talking to lots of people I don't know," she said in a hushed tone. "But I can't just say to them, "Stop talking to me," can I?"

"Try doing what I'm doing. If you're constantly eating, people can't talk to you." Harry suggested.

"Alright," she said, uncertainly, piling pork chops onto her plate. Sure enough, she wasn't bothered by the girls again before the end of the feast.

Once all of the dirty dishes disappeared, the old man sitting in the golden chair in the middle of the staff table, whom Harry deduced must be Professor Dumbledore, from his long, white beard and half-moon spectacles, stood up. The chatter at the tables died down immediately.

"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts," he began. "There are just a few announcements that need to be made, and then we can send you all off to bed. Firstly, our caretaker, Mr Filch, has asked me to remind you that no magic is allowed in the corridors. Also, as always, the Forbidden Forest is, hence the name, forbidden. And finally, the third floor corridor on the right hand side is out of bounds, for all those who do not wish to die a painful death," As soon as he sat back down, the students all stood up, to head up to their beds. Or, the second years and above did, while the first-years all stood, looking confused. After a few seconds, they heard a voice, saying "First-year Ravenclaws, follow me please"

Harry looked up and saw two older students, a boy and a girl, with Ravenclaw ties waiting for them at the end of the corridor. They ran over to meet the two older students.

The girl spoke up. "Hello, We're your Ravenclaw Prefects, if you have any problems, you are always welcome to come and speak with us. My name's Rebecca, and this is Daniel." The boy nodded. "Now, if you'll follow us, we'll show you the way to your dormitories."

The prefects led them along countless corridors and staircases (which moved!), for what seemed like hours, until they reached a door, with a bronze, eagle-shaped knocker. The prefects spoke up again.

"To gain access to our common room, you must answer a riddle," At this, the knocker spoke.

_When one knows not what it I am, then I am something; but when one knows what I am, then I am nothing__. What am I?_

After a few seconds of silence, the male prefect spoke up"Since this is your first day, we'll help you with this one. But after this, you need to work them out on your own. The answer is.."

"A riddle." Everyone turned round and saw Harry standing there, at the back impatiently.

"Correct," The door swung open. Everyone hurried inside to take a look The common room was a large, airy room with a midnight blue carpet, large arched windows, and a series of comfortable sofas and armchairs surrounding a fireplace. Two spiralling staircases were situated on the other side of the room.

"Girls dormitories are up the left hand staircase, boys are up the right, your trunks will already be up there," After a quick goodbye to Steph, Harry and the other Ravenclaw boys went upstairs to their dorms.

The dormitory was circular, with six four-poster beds at equal intervals around a circular fireplace. There were large arched windows on either side of every bed. Harry's trunk was already on top of his bed, with his snowy-white owl, Hedwig on top. Remembering his promise to his parents, Harry decided to write them a letter. He got some parchment and a quill out of his bag and began to write.

_Dear Mum and Dad_

_Guess what? I'm a Ravenclaw! The hat took a while to decide where to put me, but it eventually decided on Ravenclaw. My dorm-mates seem nice, though I haven't made friends with them yet._

_Al's a Gryffindor. Lucky him. He gets to share a dorm with 'The Boy who Lived' himself, Neville Longbottom. Al seems to think that he's the next Merlin and will probably become one of Longbottoms minions, along with the Weasley boy. _

_Personally, I think he's an arrogant prat and I told him so. He came into our carriage on the train, obviously looking for attention and seemed insulted when we didn't know who he was. So then, he decided to tell us his life story, about 'How he defeated Voldemort with his superior magical power'. He can't even say the name! Steph doesn't like him either. She's a friend I made on the train, and she's in Ravenclaw too. She seems a bit shy around large crowds, but talking to one or two people, she's really funny._

_From Harry_

Harry gave the letter to Hedwig, opened the window to let her out, then, without so much as a word to his room-mates, who were chatting on the other side of the room, pulled back the curtains surrounding his bed, put a silencing charm on his curtain, then promptly fell asleep.

/\/\/\/\/\

Alan Potter was in his dormitory, listening to his new best friend, Neville rant to everyone about how people in the school should show him more respect. Ron and Al were adding encouraging noises such as "Yeah" and "That's right" when necessary.

Ron seemed nice enough. He was the same height as Al, ginger like Al, though Al's hair was longer and slightly darker, and freckly. He was friendly during the feast, and had lots of older brothers, who had told him lots about the school, which the first-years had found quite helpful. But they liked to play jokes on people, so some of the information that Ron had been given was ridiculous. For example, at the feast, Ron had proclaimed that the Potions Professor, Snape, was actually a vampire. Unfortunately, his voice carried to the staff table and earned him a particularly nasty glare and probably, a difficult year in Potions.

"..and that Harry Potter!" Neville raged, interrupting Al's thoughts. "He thinks that he's so much better than everyone else and he's undermining my authority. Al, can't you control your brother?"

"No," he replied, "But my parents can. I'll write them a letter." He got some parchment and a quill out of his trunk, and began to write.

_Dear Mum and Dad_

_I got sorted into Gryffindor. My dorm-mates are friendly and my new best friend Neville Longbottom is here too. He's really cool, and he's done really interesting things. A few people were mean to him though, like Harry. Harry called him rude and arrogant in-front of other people and he LAUGHED when a Slytherin boy called Draco Malfoy made a joke about his parents being dead. That nearly caused Neville to start crying._

_Harry's a Ravenclaw. Don't be too disappointed in him, its not his fault he's not good enough to be a Gryffindor. He's made friends with a girl called Stephanie. I don't like her. She just ignored Neville when he was talking to her._

_I have another friend called Ron. He's got red hair, like me and is a Quiddich fanatic. He's quite stupid though, as he yelled about Snape being a vampire in the middle of the feast, and __**Snape heard him!**_

_I'm going to go to bed now, please try and stop Harry from bullying Neville._

_Love from Al_

He gave the letter to his brown owl, Ads, then went to bed, shattered.

/\/\/\/\/\

The next morning, Harry awoke early, before everyone else and went down to the common room. He was surprised to see Steph curled up in one of the armchairs, sleeping.

"Steph, wake up!" Harry shook her awake.

"Whatimezit?" she yawned.

"It's morning," Harry replied. "Care to tell me why, on your first night at Hogwarts, you weren't in bed?"

"The others were too loud, and didn't want to sleep. When it reached one in the morning, I thought I'd try sleeping down here,"

"I had the same problem, although I solved it with a Silencing Charm. Do you want me to teach you it, so that you can put it on your curtains?"

"Maybe later. Let's go to breakfast," she suggested.

"Alright, I suppose I am quite hungry." Together, they walked down to the Great Hall to find it almost empty. After a few minutes of silence, it started to fill up, as the castle woke up. At one point, a swarm of owls flew down from the rafters. Harry saw Hedwig, with one addressed to him. He was surprised, he didn't think his parents would respond that quickly.

_Harry,_

_Congratulations on being sorted into Ravenclaw, no-one in this family has ever done that, that we've heard about. Your brother seemed to think that we'd be disappointed in you for that. We're glad you've made friends already, but you should probably stop antagonizing that Longbottom boy. According to Al, he's really nice. Al also said that you were talking with the Malfoy boy. We think that you should stay away from him, his parents are dangerous._

_Love Mum and Dad_

Harry read the letter and frowned. Noticing this, Steph asked to see it. Harry handed it to her and her eyes widened as she read it.

"They aren't really responding to your letter, are they? They're just telling you off!" she said, surprised.

"Yup," came the reply. "I'm annoyed too. From the letter, I reckon that Al sent them a letter complaining about me taking Longbottom down a few pegs and Neville probably asked him to." Looking over to the Gryffindor table, he saw Al, the red haired boy who shouted out in Neville's defence and Neville all trying to fit as much food in their mouths as possible. He also noticed Al's owl, Ads, there carrying a letter. Al picked it up and read it, then looked over to Harry with a smug grin on his face. Harry glared back at him.

Professor Flitwick, a tiny man with white hair, who was head of Ravenclaw house, started walking down the table, handing out timetables to students. Harry looked at his, and saw that they had Transfiguration first, with the Hufflepuffs.

Professor McGonagall, the stern woman from the Sorting, taught this. She started the class with a lecture. "Transfiguration is a dangerous and difficult subject. There will be no messing around in my class, or you will leave it and never come back." She then turned herself into a cat and back" Impressed, but slightly intimidated by her, the class looked at her in awe. She gave everyone a set of matchsticks and told them to turn them into needles. Harry, promptly turned all five of his matchsticks into needles with one wave of his wand. McGonagall looked at him, shocked and gave five points to Ravenclaw, asking him to wait behind at the end. No-one else managed the full transformation, but Steph's matchstick was shiny and pointy at the ends.

The bell rang, signalling the end of class, and everyone else filed out. Steph said that she'd wait outside for him. Once everyone was out, McGonagall started.

"Mr Potter, that was an extraordinary piece of magic you just did. Ordinarily, people are not taught how to do multiple Transfigurations at once until fourth year. Might I ask how you came across this knowledge?"

Harry shrugged his shoulders. "I read ahead, and practiced the spells."

McGonagall looked at him, impressed, then said, "Well, Mr Potter, I don't normally do this, but it would be a shame to see a talent such as yours go to waste. I would like to offer you extra tutoring, to teach you some more advanced things. In return, as I know that you know the course, you will not have to complete any homework in this class, provided that you can prove your knowledge tonight. My office, eight pm, Mr Potter. Oh, and keep this a secret, will you? I don't want any other students asking me for extra lessons. Tell them that you have detention with me on Mondays, for giving me cheek after everyone else left." And with that, she walked out of the class.

The next class they had was Potions, with the Hufflepuffs again. Harry took the desk beside Steph. The teacher didn't seem to have arrived yet, so everyone was chatting amongst themselves. Suddenly, they heard a door slam, and a man with long, greasy hair, a hooked nose and dressed in all black walked into the room. He too, started the class with a lecture.

"I am Professor Snape, the Potions Master here at Hogwarts. You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making. As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even put a stopper in death — if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach." When he said the last bit, he was looking directly at Harry.

"Potter!" he barked. "Tell me, what would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Almost immediately, Harry answered, "The Draught of Living Death, sir." Snape's eyes narrowed.

"Where would I find a Beozar?" the interrogation continued.

"Inside the stomach of a goat,"_Hmm, why is he only questioning me? He obviously doesn't like me, but why?_

"And what is it used for?" Snape seemed to be getting frustrated.

"It is an antidote to most poisons, sir."

" And what is the difference between Monkshood and Wolfsbane?" the pace of the interrogation increased.

"They are the same thing sir,"

"Name one key ingredient in Polyjuice Potion?"

"Boomslang skin."

"Ten points from Ravenclaw, for showing off, Mr Potter. You are here to make potions, not make others feel inferior." At this Harry snorted. Snape looked at him.

"Is something the matter, Mr Potter?" he said, softly, but dangerously. Trying to keep a straight face, Harry replied with,

"No sir, I'll do my best to keep _my _superiority complex under control." The entire class gasped.

"Detention, Potter. My office, eight o'clock. I do not stand for cheek." Of-course, Harry knew that he couldn't go, as he had his first tutoring session with McGonagall that evening, but he would have to wait until the end of class to tell him that, as McGonagall didn't want anyone to know.

Snape set them a simple potion to cure boils, told them to take the ingredients out of the storeroom and put the instructions on the blackboard. _I wonder if the storeroom has the ingredients for an animagus potion. I'll have to put my new cloak to good use at some point._ Harry completed the potion perfectly, but Snape didn't notice. At the end of the class, Harry held back, and told Steph to save him a seat at lunch. Snape didn't seem to notice that he was still here.

"Professor?" he began. Snape looked up from his desk and stared at him with cold, black eyes. "I'm sorry, but I can't do my detention tonight, I have detention with Professor McGonagall at eight. I'll do it tomorrow instead." _She probably didn't want the other teachers knowing about the tutoring sessions either._

"Very well, tomorrow at eight Potter," he spat. "Now, get out!" Harry fled the dungeon as fast as he could and went up the stairs to lunch.

/\/\/\/\/\

Apparently, the event with Snape made him quite popular, as his classmates were retelling the story to everyone at lunch. While walking over to his seat, he heard, "Nice one Potter, putting the greasy bastard in his place," from a fourth year Gryffindor and "Good job, mate!" from Terry Boot, one of the boys in his dorm.

Uncomfortable from all the attention, Harry muttered a "Thanks" then proceeded to eat his lunch as quickly as possible, so he could get away from all the attention. Steph, noticing his discomfort, left the hall with him.

They walked upstairs to the charms classroom.

"Harry, that was brilliant, he was obviously picking on you, and undermine his authority in front of the entire class. I mean, he will probably fail you for the rest of the year, no matter how good your potions are, but it was hilarious!" Steph said, breathlessly.

"But even better, think what mood he'll be in when he has Longbottom and my brother this afternoon after charms! D'you think a detention with Snape would be punishment enough, for ratting me out to my parents?" A grin spread across Harry's face, which Steph returned.

"I'm not sure, Longbottom certainly deserves more, just for being him," An idea came to Harry.

"Once classes are done, lets go up to the common room. I've something I want to show you. We can use it to get them."

/\/\/\/\/\

Charms was an interesting class, but made less so by the fact that it was with the Gryffindors. Longbottom's loud proclamations of his genius were beginning to become tiresome. It was taught by Professor Flitwick. Unlike Snape and McGonagall, he didn't start by telling them how dangerous it was, in fact, he told them that they would be much more successful in the class if they enjoyed themselves. The class itself, seemed much more relaxed. They were being taught the levitation charm, but weren't allowed to use their wands, as Flitwick went round the class, checking that everyone got the incantation correct. Of-course, Neville loudly said that it was ridiculous and that he could do the charm easily, but he got the incantation wrong, when Flitwick asked him. The red-faced Neville stayed quiet after that. When Al tried, he wasn't much better. For some reason, he blamed Harry for this and spent the rest of the period glaring at him. What happened next didn't help much.

"Mr Potter, lets hear you say it." Harry stood up and, loudly and clearly said, "Wingardium Leviosa" With those words, Flitwick shot up into the air. _How did that happen? I don't even have my wand!_ Everyone in the class drew in their breath. Flitwick shrieked. "Put me down this instant Mr Potter!" Shocked, Harry put him back onto the ground.

"I thought I said no wands, Mr Potter," Flitwick said, frustrated.

"But Professor, my wand is in my bag, I didn't use it." Harry argued.

"Really?" Flitwick's anger seemed to have disappeared and been replaced by curiosity. "Wait behind at the end, we'll discuss it then. Next!" _What is it with these teachers today, and making me wait behind?_

Once the class had finished and everyone had filed out, Flitwick began to talk.

"Mr Potter, it seems you have a natural affinity for wandless magic, and judging by the power of the spell, it seems, that had you been using a wand, I would've gone through the roof! What confuses me though, is that one requires intent, in order to cast a spell. We haven't covered that yet and it isn't the sort of thing one picks up naturally, which leads to my question: Where did you learn how to cast it?"

Harry gave him the same answer that he gave McGonagall. "I read ahead a bit, I guess."

"How far, exactly?"

" As of now, I can cast every spell in 'The Standard Book of Spells' grades one to four." At this, Flitwick gave a squeal of excitement.

"Mr Potter, I knew that you were talented, but this is truly magnificent! Never, in all my years as a Professor, has there been a student that far ahead. I would like to offer you, extra tutoring sessions, to teach you more advanced material and help you to control your spells, to stop incidents like this happening again." _Wow, two offers for extra tutoring, in my first three classes! I didn't think I was __**that**__far ahead. Maybe I can get more out of this though._

"But Professor, with all of my homework, I probably won't have any free time," Harry said, feigning worry.

"Considering your talents in this class, I don't think that you should have to complete any homework for it, but only if you come to the tutoring sessions. Harry grinned. _Victory._

"OK then, what day?"

"Thursday, at 8 o'clock."

"See you then, Professor"

/\/\/\/\/\

Defence Against the Dark Arts was a joke. The Professor, Quirrel, looked rather ridiculous in his turban as he stuttered his way through stories about vampires, then told them to copy from the textbook. Bored, Harry took out his book on Animagi and read that instead, after charming it to look like the DADA book to others. He stopped at the page which had the animagus potion on it, and looked at the ingredient list. They were all fairly common, so he was sure he could find them in Snape's storeroom. _Maybe the detention tomorrow would be a good opportunity to get them?_

After Defence, as planned before, Harry and Steph went up to Ravenclaw Tower. Upon entering the common room, Harry told Steph to wait down there, while he went up to get the invisibility cloak. He put on the cloak before coming down, then sneaked up behind her and quietly whispered in her ear, "Boo!" The scream that came after was loud enough to make several older students, who were studying, glare at her and cause Harry to jump back, and fall over, the cloak sliding off him.

"Harry!" she shouted. "What the bloody hell was that!" Before Harry could answer, one of the older students called over.

"Oi! Shut it! Some of us are trying to study. Take your arguments elsewhere!"

"C'mon Steph, lets continue this outside," and with that, Harry walked out of the common room. Once they reached the first abandoned classroom and went inside, Steph started up again. "Well?" she asked, clearly still angry.

"Well what?" Harry replied, amused.

"Well, what, the bloody hell was that?"

"Language" Harry smirked, but when she raised a fist, he put both of his hands up in defence. "Alright then! That, was my cloak of invisibility" As Harry donned the cloak, her anger turned to curiosity, which then turned to awe, as she realised that Harry's body was completely invisible beneath the cloak.

"All we have to do, is ambush them in the corridor when they are on their way to dinner, with this on, and we can stick our legs out, and watch as my dearest brother and his friend fall on top of one another, then we walk away, leaving them none-the-wiser."

/\/\/\/\/\

The plan worked like a dream. Al and Neville both walked straight into their outstretched legs and crashed down. The Weasley boy was walking with them, looking confused as to why the other two fell and he didn't. Harry and Steph could barely stifle their laughter as they ran away.

Dinner was an interesting affair. The incident with Flitwick had spread throughout the school. Between giving Snape cheek, and levitating Flitwick, Harry was now somewhat famous throughout the school. People kept coming up to him and asking him to tell them the story of what actually happened in the Charms classroom, but Harry politely declined and asked them to leave him alone to finish his dinner.

After dinner, Harry went up to McGonagall's office for his tutoring session. It was a very plain, minimalistic room, with no pictures on the stone walls and only a desk, to chairs and a fireplace for furniture.

"Take a seat, Mr Potter." Harry slid into one of the seats.

McGonagall wasted no time. "Tell me, what is the most advanced spell that you can complete perfectly?"

"Err, the Vanishing Spell, probably." McGonagall promptly conjured a plain dinner plate.

"Vanish this for me,"

"Evanesco," The plate disappeared. McGonagall looked at him, her stern face, twitched slightly, as if she was smiling, but only for a second.

"Very well, let's start work on the conjuring charm..."

/\/\/\/\/\

Two hours later, Harry left her office, exhausted, but pleased with himself. He was actually learning something. In that one session, he learnt how to conjure both animate and inanimate objects and, while he found it difficult at first, by the end, it was easy for him. Once he reached the common room, he saw an annoyed Steph march over to him.

"Where the bloody hell did you go!?" she whispered, having learnt her lesson earlier about shouting in the common room.

"I had detention with Snape," he lied, hoping she'd leave it at that.

"Bullshit! You told me you had that moved to tomorrow. I had to listen to the airheads in my dorm talking for the past two hours! I'll ask again, where were you!?"

Harry sighed. _I should probably just tell her. She'll find out eventually anyway, if I keep disappearing twice a week for the rest of the year_. "I'll answer, if you tell me how you learnt all these swear words and promise to keep it a secret." He grinned at her.

"OK, I promise."

"Remember how McGonagall and Flitwick told me to stay behind? They offered me extra classes, since I know the first-year syllabus already. I've got McGonagall on a Monday and Flitwick on a Thursday." Changing tack, he said, "So, how'd you learn these words then?"

"Wow, I didn't know that you were _that _good." she said, shocked. "So, you can do all my homework for me then?" she added, smiling.

"Steph, stop changing the subject. How d'you know all these exotic words?".

She shrugged. "I watch a lot of American muggle films." They stayed up in the common room and talked for an hour about muggle films, before heading to bed. Harry was exhausted, but thoroughly satisfied with the day. _I think I'm going to like Hogwarts..._

/\/\/\/\/\

Alan Potter had had a truly miserable day. It'd started fairly well, at breakfast, it seemed that the letter that he sent to his parents had the desired effect on Harry, considering the nasty glare being sent his way.

But his day went downhill from there. He was seized by the Venomous Tentacula in Herbology, after messing around(he and Neville were trying to prove that it wasn't really dangerous, _after all, it was just a plant_) and it had taken three people to get it off him. Luckily, he hadn't been bitten, but he did receive a few nasty scrapes and lost twenty house points for it.

After this, they had Transfiguration, taught by the Gryffindor head of house, Professor McGonagall. She kept looking over in his direction, as if she was expecting him to do something. It wasn't his fault, that his matchsticks wouldn't change into needles, no-one in the entire class managed any change at all, except the annoying Granger girl, who made one of hers pointy. Then, Malfoy made some stupid comments, about me and Ron being the "lapdogs of The Boy who Lived" and Neville having "no special magical talents". That set all three of us off and we tried to attack him. McGonagall saw, though and took off ten house points.

At lunch, everyone was talking about how Harry had stood up to Professor Snape and had got a detention, after answering all of his hard questions. _Honestly, people should stop treating him as if he's the next merlin. This hero-worship is ridiculous._ Al also, through a Hufflepuff boy, managed to learn why McGonagall had looked so disappointed in me. Apparently, Harry had shown off and managed to turn all of his matchsticks into needles. _She probably thought that it ran in the family and expected me to do the same. Stupid show-off._

After lunch, he had Charms, with the Ravenclaws. Harry and his 'friend' Stephanie were there, _although I reckon she doesn't actually like him and she's only talking to him because she feels sorry for him. _When Al and Neville got the charm wrong, he smirked at them. That set him off, and Al glared at his brother for the rest of the period. Then, he did the most ridiculous thing, that Al had ever heard. When asked to say the incantation for the levitation charm, he actually levitated Flitwick into the air, then tried to say that he didn't use a wand for it. _As if. Everyone knows, that you need a wand to do magic_. Flitwick asked him to stay behind at the end, probably to give him a detention. _Serves him right for playing a joke on a teacher._

For the last period of the day, they had Potions with the Slytherins. Snape started the lesson by giving Al, Neville and Ron really hard questions, then taking off points when they got them wrong. They all complained, and Snape gave them a detention.

"You will not argue with me in MY class, Potter. Your brother tried that earlier and I gave him a detention too," Snape said, shaking with anger. Then he changed his tone, to a more mocking one and said. "Although, he at least appeared to have some intelligence about him, something that _you three_ are clearly lacking. You will serve your detention tomorrow night with your brother."

And then, on the way to dinner, Al and Neville had tripped up, over seemingly nothing. Al had scraped his knee. As angry as he was going into dinner, he was two or three times as angry leaving. Everyone was going on about how brilliant it was, that Harry had levitated Flitwick, and how it was _so 's changed since coming to Hogwarts, and now he thinks he's even better than Neville! As if. I'm going to put a stop to it right now, by writing another letter to Mum and Dad_.

When he got back to his dormitory that evening, he immediately told Neville what he was going to do. Neville offered to help him write it, so he got all the facts correct. _Neville's such a good friend._ He put quill to parchment and began to write.

_Dear Mum..._

**A/N Please read and review. If you have any queries about the story, don't hesitate to message me.**


	3. Flying Away

**A/N I own nothing, JKR owns all**

The next morning, when the owl post came, there was another letter for Harry, though oddly it came from Al's owl Ads. Harry looked at the letter oddly, as it came in a red envelope. _How weird. My parents have never sent anything in a red envelope to me before._ A voice from further down the breakfast table, a voice said, "Who's got the howler?" A few seconds after, which Harry had spent looking at the envelope curiously, it started smoking and then burst open. To Harry's horror, his mother's voice came out, booming around the Great Hall.

"HARRY JAMES POTTER! TWO DETENTIONS IN ONE DAY, ALAN TELLS ME. ONE FOR TALKING BACK TO PROFESSOR SNAPE AND THE OTHER FOR LEVITATING POOR PROFESSOR FLITWICK, THEN LYING ABOUT USING A WAND FOR IT! THIS IS A DISGRACE! YOUR FATHER AND I ARE FURIOUS! I'VE ALSO BEEN TOLD THAT YOU WERE BULLYING HIS FRIEND NEVILLE, BY SAYING HORRIBLE THINGS ABOUT HIM. IF I HEAR OF ANY MORE DETENTIONS OR BULLYING, I WILL PERSONALLY COME UP TO HOGWARTS AND DRAG YOU HOME!" The letter burst into flames.

_That little tell-tale! _Amidst all the laughter that the howler received, A red-faced and furious Harry Potter stood up from his seat at the Ravenclaw table and walked over to where Al and his friends were sitting. Al was fidgeting in his seat nervously as he saw Harry came over. When Harry reached his brother, he simply said, "Al, a word please, in private?" while struggling to keep his voice level. Al simply nodded and walked out of the hall with Harry, looking worried as they stopped in the first abandoned classroom they reached. After closing the door, Harry turned round to look at his brother, his green eyes blazing.

"What the hell Al!" Harry yelled. "You complained to Mum about me! What did I do to deserve _that_!?"

"I only told her the truth! You _did_ get a detention with Snape. You _did _levitate Flitwick then lie about it being wandless, then you got a detention for it. You _were_ mean to Neville." Al yelled back. "Mum needs to know if you get into trouble!"

"Why then," Harry growled, "didn't you tell her about _your _detention with Snape, or losing points for messing around with the Venomous Tentancula or assaulting Malfoy in Transfiguration? Should I write to her about those? Anyway, I haven't been bullying Neville. I didn't even talk to him yesterday. And I didn't get a detention for levitating Flitwick and I didn't lie about wandless magic. I'll prove it to you right now!" Harry threw his wand on the desk, looked Al straight in the eye and shouted, "Wingardium Leviosa!" Al flew into the air with extreme speed. He screamed. Once he was about to hit the ceiling, Harry brought him back down. "Happy now!?" he questioned venomously, before walking out of the room and slamming the door.

Harry ran into a the nearest bathroom, to calm himself down. _How dare he! _He looked in the mirrors and splashed water onto his face. _How dare he write home about me being badly behaved, when he was several times worse._ He looked at his hands. They were literally shaking with anger. _I may have to write to Mum tonight after my detention with Snape and explain everything that __**he's **__done._

After a few minutes, Harry's anger had mostly subsided and he left for his first class, which was double History of Magic. When he reached the classroom, everyone was waiting outside for the teacher to appear. They were all talking about the Howler and Harry's dramatic exit from the Hall. Harry found it surprisingly easy to ignore them. He found Steph, who looked at him worriedly.

"You OK?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine, now that I've taken my anger out on my brother." Harry replied.

The Professor for History of Magic was a ghost, called Professor Binns. He had a dull, droning voice that put many to sleep as he lectured for two hours on various goblin rebellions. While the majority of the class slept, Harry pulled out his animagus book and started reading about the potion that he needed, to find out his form. _I wonder if I'll get the opportunity to get the ingredients during my detention with Snape tonight. My brother and his friends will be there, so it might be difficult, but I'll take my cloak just in case._

That afternoon, they had Herbology, with a small, grubby looking woman named Professor Sprout. They had Herbology with the Slytherins. For their first lesson, they were simply going over the safety regulations of the greenhouse. While Sprout was talking to them about the importance of wearing their safety gloves at all times, Draco Malfoy came over to Harry.

"That was quite a scene you made at breakfast, Potter" Unsure if the boy was mocking him or not, Harry responded with,

"Yes, it was."

"I have a proposal for you Potter. We can't be seen to be friends, as that would lose me all of my respect amongst the Slytherins, but I like you. If I hear anything about Longbottom or your brother that you might find interesting, I'll tell you about it, on the condition that you do the same for me. This way, if your brother and his friends try to get me, as I know they will, as they already have, I'll get the chance to evade them. In return, I will get you information on him that can be used to get him into trouble with his parents, if you write to them I'm in most of his classes, so I can hear things. Deal?"

To Harry, this seemed like the perfect agreement. He was able to get back at his brother for being a tell-tale, at almost no cost to himself.

"Deal" Harry agreed and the two boys shook on it.

/\/\/\/\/\

Before his detention, Harry wrote a quick note to his parents, explaining all of Al's wrongdoings and what Harry had actually done. He picked up his invisibility cloak and headed down to detention. Harry had no idea how his brother would react to seeing him, as they hadn't crossed paths since their argument at breakfast.

Upon reaching the dungeons, he saw Longbottom, his brother and Weasley already standing outside Snape's office door.

"Longbottom, Al, Weasley," Harry acknowledged.

"Potter" came the response from Weasley. The other two had decided to remain silent. Al looked at the floor while Longbottom glared at him.

A few awkward minutes of silence later, Snape's door opened. "You" he said while looking at Harry, "stay here. The rest of you are cleaning the trophy room with Mr Filch." The three boys nodded then walked upstairs to the trophy room, leaving Harry and Snape alone.

"I will be marking essays in my office. You will be cleaning the floor of the dungeon. I've left a cloth out for you. I will be back out in an hour, to see if you've done a successful job." With that, he walked into his office without saying another word.

_Hmm, he didn't say that I couldn't use magic now, did he? He probably didn't think a first-year would be able to do a cleaning charm. _Harry's eyes wandered to the door on the right-hand side of the dungeon. It was the door to the storage room. _This will be easier than expected._ After muttering a quick "Scourgify" to clean the floor, he walked over to the door and said "Alohamora." The door clicked open and Harry stepped inside. After summoning all of the necessary ingredients, he put them in a small rucksack and put it on his back, manoeuvring his cloak around it so that it was covered and he wasn't. After this, he waited for Snape to leave his office.

After another forty minutes, Snape came out and grudgingly released Harry, as he had done the job perfectly. When Harry got back to his common room, he saw Steph sitting on an armchair doing her transfiguration homework that McGonagall had set everyone (except Harry) today. After dumping the rucksack in his room, he went over to the armchair and squeezed in beside her. They talked about his detention, then Harry decided to get his wizard chess set and show her how to play. She was an avid player of muggle chess and seemed curious as to how the wizard version of the game worked. They spent the rest of the evening playing chess before they both turned in for the evening.

/\/\/\/\/\

After his detention, Snape seemed to ignore Harry in Potions, apparently deeming him unworthy of his attention. That suited Harry just fine. He had found a room to brew his potion, in a rarely used broom cupboard on the fourth floor. It needed to simmer overnight, so Harry started it on Wednesday just after dinner and finished it the next morning before breakfast. The potion induced sleep, so Harry was going to take it just before bed that night. Harry had received an apology from his mother for the howler, admitting that she should've got Harry's side of the story first.

He had his first advanced charms lesson that evening. He walked into Flitwick's office. It was incredibly different to the minimalist design of Professor McGonagall's office. The room was large and airy, with several pictures of incredibly small men, who Harry assumed must've been Flitwick's ancestors, as they all looked very similar to him. The lesson began in the same way as McGonagall's did- with a test. Flitwick conjured a large quill on the other side of the room and asked Harry to summon it then banish it to the bookshelf. Harry did so, quite easily. Flitwick asked him to do it again wandlessly. This time, when he summoned it, it overshot his hand and flew right past him. The rest of the lesson was about controlling the wandless magic.

When Harry left Flitwick's office a couple of hours later, he was incredibly tired and went straight up to the dorm without talking to Steph, who seemed to be absent anyway. He got a vial of the Animagus potion out of his trunk and drank it just as he was lying in bed. Sleep soon took over him.

_He was prowling quietly across the forest floor. The moon shone through the trees, and the leaves rustled beneath his feet. He was king here. King of the night. No-one could see him, so no-one could challenge him. He saw a lone stag in the distance. As quietly as possible, he approached it, careful not to step on any twigs. As he approached, the dream became third person, and he saw what he was- a black wolf, with startlingly green eyes. He was six foot long, three foot tall, with a long, pointed jaw._

_And then the dream changed. He was flying, high above the forest. In the sky, he couldn't be matched. He was a bird of prey. In the distance, he saw a rat with his superior eyesight. Swooping down to catch his dinner, he saw himself in third-person again. He was a bald eagle. His white head and brown wings and body were beautiful. The rat hadn't seen him yet. He outstretched his claws and snatched it off the ground..._

Harry woke up in cold sweats. _What was that? The book never said anything about seeing two animals... It can't mean I have two animagus forms, that's never happened to anyone before. Has it? Maybe it has, but they didn't register their second form, so they could use it for their own purposes._

After vowing to go to the library tomorrow afternoon, which they had off, Harry went back to bed and settled into an uneasy sleep.

/\/\/\/\/\

After lunch, the next day, Harry went straight up to the library and searched for other books on Animagi. He found several, and skimmed through them. There was nothing in them at all, about animagi with multiple forms, or dreams which showed multiple forms. Harry made a decision to try and master the eagle form and if he managed that, then he could go for the wolf. The eagle form would be more useful, if he was to only have one. It would be incredibly easy to escape from any situation, if one could simply fly away. Also, if Harry was being completely honest, _who doesn't want to fly?_

Harry went back to the common room that evening to find Steph, as he found her before, sitting in an armchair, procrastinating while trying to do homework. Harry went to sit next to her again and they talked. They were getting flying lessons tomorrow morning.

"Have you ever been flying on a broom Harry?" she asked,

"Once. I only got a few feet off the ground before I fell off and broke my arm. I haven't been on a broom since. I was on my Dad's racing broom though, which probably isn't the best thing to use to teach someone how to fly. The school brooms are slow training brooms. It's almost impossible to fall off one of those."

"I think it sounds fun. I can't wait until tomorrow."

/\/\/\/\/\

The next morning, the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws walked down to the Quiddich pitch after breakfast. Madam Hooch, who in Harry's opinion looked a bit like a hawk, was waiting for them with brooms laid out in-front of them.

"Everyone stand on the right-hand side of a broom," she barked. Harry stood at one beside Steph.

Once everyone was in position, she said, "Put your left arm over the broom and say, clearly and firmly, 'Up!'"

"Up!" came the response from the class. Harry's broom shot into his hand straight away, as did Stephanie's. No-one else's did. After several minutes of shouting, everyone had their brooms in their hands.

"Mount your brooms!" she commanded. "When I say go, I want you to kick off the ground, hover for a few seconds. Go!" Harry kicked off the ground and hovered, half a metre away from the surface of the pitch. He looked to his right to see how Steph was doing. She too was hovering, albeit a bit higher than Harry.

"And.. lean forward and touch back down," Hooch said. Harry did just that. Just as hit feet touched the ground, he heard a scream. Looking up, Stephanie had lost control of her broom. She had shot up and was now heading for the Quiddich hoops at the other end of the pitch. _What the hell..._

Mounting her own broom, Madam Hooch shouted, "Miss Jones! Get back down here now!" and she kicked off, following Steph. Steph's broom had stopped moving by this point. She was hovering about eighty metres above the ground, near the hoops. Harry was frozen out of shock, unable to do anything. As soon as Madam Hooch got within a few metres of her, her broom started shaking uncontrollably.

What happened next would haunt Harry forever. As Madam Hooch got closer, the shaking became more intense. It was like a supercharged Bucking Bronco. As Hooch held out her hand, for Stephanie to grab, the broom gave one final shake, throwing Stephanie into the air, towards the crowd of first-years. A crunching sound was made as she hit the ground, a couple of feet in-front of Harry. Some people screamed. Harry couldn't hear them.

Stephanie Jones was dead.

**A/N Dramatic stuff. It may seem a bit weird, me killing off one of the main characters, but she will have a massive affect on the story.**


	4. Shock

**A/N JKR owns all**

Shock. That was the best word to describe what Harry and the rest of Hogwarts felt with regards to Steph's death, over the next few days. Everywhere, people spoke in hushed voices and laughter was hard to come across. It was as if people thought that happiness would disrespect her memory. However, the impact it had on other students was nothing compared to the impact it had on Harry. He spoke only when spoken to and even then, only sometimes. For several weeks, if he turned up for classes, he said and did nothing. Sometimes he didn't feel up to it and he wandered the corridors aimlessly under the invisibility cloak. He was given some leeway by the teachers, as they could tell how badly he was affected by this. The only classes he was guaranteed to attend were his advanced charms and transfiguration lessons, as there were no other students there, talking in hushed voices. They were the only classes that didn't remind him of what happened. He had difficulty sleeping. When he managed to get to sleep, he woke up in the middle of the night screaming, as he saw her body hit the ground again in his mind.

Her parents came to collect her body the day after the fall. Harry asked if he could go to the funeral, momentarily breaking his silence, but he only got a glare in return from her father. They wanted nothing to do with the world that had killed her after less than a week.

Al tried to talk to him, to get him to break out of his shell, but he was an eleven year old boy and never said the right thing.

"C'mon Harry, snap out of it. Its not like you were even that close to her, you only knew her for a week," Al pleaded. At this, Harry glared at him and walked off. "I'll get Mum and Dad involved!" he threatened, but Harry had already left.

Al did just that, as James and Lily Potter came up to the school the next day after lunch, to see Harry. They were told by Professor Dumbledore that Harry had skipped class and hadn't been seen since breakfast. They waited in his office all afternoon. At dinner, Harry was spotted by Professor McGonagall and she asked him to go up to the Headmaster's office. Staring at her blankly and nodding, Harry walked up to the stone gargoyles, which automatically submitted him. He was surprised to see his parents standing there, instead of Dumbledore. His mum didn't look at all pleased with him. _Oh Hell.._

"HARRY POTTER! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL DAY? DUMBLEDORE SAID YOU WEREN'T IN CLASS TODAY. WHAT WERE YOU DOING? WE'VE WERE WORRIED SICK ABOUT YOU, WHEN THE HEADMASTER SAID YOU HAD BEEN MISSING SINCE BREAKFAST!" Lily shrieked. Harry just looked at her with a sad face.

"I couldn't face it." he said simply. "Everyone keeps talking in hushed voices and no-one laughs. It just reminds me of her." At this, the anger disappeared from Lily's face as she pulled her oldest child into a hug.

"Oh Harry, we had no idea how badly it affected you. But you do need to start going to class or you'll fall behind." At this Harry let out a dry, humourless laugh. _How little they know._

"Your Mum's right, son. Your classes are important." James said, speaking up for the first time.

"Not as important as she was," Harry mumbled tears forming in his eyes. "She was my only friend." With that, he turned round and walked out, leaving his parents dumbfounded.

/\/\/\/\/\

That night, Harry had another nightmare. They were all different variations of the same dream. Steph died in all of them. In one of them, he was outside, reading a book in the castle grounds when he looked up to the tallest tower and heard a scream. Stephanie was falling off the tower. Harry would run over, shouting her name, but would not arrive in time. The last thing he would hear before he woke up was the sound of her hitting the ground, her bones cracking. That was the one he had on this particular night.

In cold sweats, Harry sat up in bed. No-one else in his dorm woke up, due to the silencing charms on his curtains. _There's no way I'm getting back to sleep now. _He put on a pair of slippers and pulled the invisibility cloak over his head, before heading out of Ravenclaw Tower for a night-time stroll. For a couple of hours, he wandered without direction until he came across a curious sight. Inside an unused classroom, there was an large mirror.

It was a full body-sized mirror. Above it, inscribed was "_Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi" _Curiously, Harry looked in the mirror. What he saw in there shocked him. He saw himself, but next to him stood Stephanie. She was smiling at him, talking to him. Harry turned round, but she wasn't there. _Some mirror... _Harry smiled back at her.

For a few hours, Harry just sat there, in-front of the mirror. He was deep in thought, so when Albus Dumbledore entered the room, he didn't notice.

"I see you have found the Mirror of Erised Harry," Dumbledore said. Harry jumped.

"Professor! I was.. ehm.." Harry stuttered.

"I trust that you know what it does by know?" Dumbledore enquired.

"It shows us what we want to see?" Harry said, unsurely.

"Yes.. and no. It shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desires of our heart. You, have only ever known true friendship through Miss Jones, so when you look in the mirror, you see her. Am I correct?" Harry nodded. "I must warn you Harry, not to come looking for this again. Tomorrow it will be moved to a new home. Great men have wasted away before this mirror, wondering whether or not what they see is real, or even possible."

"And is it?" Harry asked hopefully. Dumbledore looked at him sadly.

"No my boy. Stephanie is dead and, tragic though it may be, she will never return. It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live." With that, he walked away, leaving Harry alone again.

/\/\/\/\/\

The talk with Dumbledore seemed to give Harry some closure, as he was back to his normal self after this. With no-one to talk to, he threw himself into his studies to take his mind off things. He stopped travelling everywhere under the invisibility cloak and walked around with a newfound purpose. Admittedly, he still spoke to no-one unless spoken to, but there was a definite improvement in his mood.

Every night, he spent hours sitting on his bed, meditating. This was supposed to help him with his animagus form. After about a week, he was able to transform one of his arms into a wing and back.

His advanced charms and transfiguration lessons were enjoyable as-well. He could now do all of the spells in "A Standard Book of Spells" grades 1-5 wandlessly and control them perfectly. In Transfiguration, he was able to transfigure McGonagall's desk into a pig and back, although that took a lot of effort.

His normal classes, though dull, as he already knew the material, were acceptable. Most teachers accepted that he was excellent and ignored him, as he ignored them. The exception to this, was of-course Professor Snape, who insulted Harry at every opportunity, despite his perfect potions. He refused to give Harry more than an Acceptable. Harry pretended that he wasn't there, unless he was asked a direct question. Snape's failure to get a rise out of him seemed to annoy the potions master.

Neville was still badmouthing him at every opportunity. "Harry Potter is little better than a squib! He's so arrogant as well. He thinks he's better than me! I'm the Boy who Lived! No-one's better than me. No wonder he has no friends." he would say to anyone who would listen. Of-course, upon hearing this, Harry would need to antagonize him.

"If I'm little better than a squib Longbottom, then what does that make you? A muggle? I am much better at magic than you and more powerful than you will ever be." Harry replied. "And I'm not a prat," he added as an afterthought. He walked away, leaving Neville standing there, red faced. Al still stood beside Longbottom, but he didn't get involved in insulting his brother. He didn't defend him either.

Harry hadn't spoken to Draco Malfoy since their meeting in Herbology, other than acknowledgement of one another in the corridor, but he seemed to be annoyed at his Slytherin gang. They followed him everywhere. He was never alone. When he went to the toilet, Crabbe and Goyle would stand on either side of the door, not letting anyone in or out until Malfoy was finished. Harry was curious as to why.

One day, in the middle of October, Harry approached a toilet on the fifth floor. Crabbe and Goyle were on either side of the door. As Harry got closer to the door, they stepped in-front of him.

"Find 'nother toilet," Crabbe grunted.

"No." Harry replied simply. With a flick of his wand, Crabbe and Goyle flew into the nearest wall. Harry walked into the bathroom. Draco Malfoy was at the sink, washing his hands.

"Potter," he acknowledged. "Crabbe let you in?"

"Malfoy," Harry responded. "No, I forced my way in. I've noticed you looking annoyed lately at your Slytherins. Why is that?"

Malfoy shrugged. "Pansy overheard Longbottom talking about attacking Slytherins. They all panicked and stick by my side now as, like you said- they're _my_ Slytherins. It gets kind of annoying. I can't get any peace unless I come in here."

Harry laughed at that. "Longbottom? They're scared of Longbottom? He couldn't do a tickling hex! How's he going to attack you?"

"Damned if I know. Crabbe and Goyle aren't capable of independent thought, but the rest of them actually believe all of the nonsense he spouts." With that, he walked out, leaving Harry to his thoughts.

/\/\/\/\/\

The next day found Al, Neville and Weasley in the hospital wing. According to the Slytherins, the three of them tried to take on Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle. What actually happened in the fight was unknown, but all three had to spend the night there.

Halloween came a few days later. There was a feast in the Great Hall to celebrate the occasion. The hall was decorated impressively. The hall was covered in pumpkins, which were enchanted to cackle madly all the time. Harry didn't really feel like going to a feast, but apparently attendance at all major feasts was mandatory. Halfway through the feast, as Harry was helping himself to some treacle tart, Professor Quirrel came storming into the hall, shouting "TROLL! IN THE DUNGEONS!" He then promptly fainted.

Several people screamed and panicked. After a few seconds, Dumbledore yelled "SILENCE! Prefects, lead the students back to their common rooms."

Harry and the rest of the Ravenclaws were led out of the Hall, up the staircases to Ravenclaw tower. Looking behind him, he saw Al, Weasley and Neville running along the corridor, away from their housemates. _Stupid fools._ Harry slipped on the invisibility cloak, which he had taken to carrying around with him after he started wandering the corridor alone and followed them. They led him to a bathroom in the dungeons. They all entered. Harry waited outside, cautiously. Harry heard a scream. It sounded like it came from a girl. _That's why they're Gryffindors. They are willing to run into any situation without knowing the circumstances._ Harry listened to what was happening. He heard Weasley shout "Oi pea-brain!" Harry snorted. _What was Weasley going to do against a troll? _After he heard his brother scream, he decided that enough was enough. He took off his cloak and walked in.

The three boys and the bushy haired girl from the train were huddled in a corner. The troll lifted its club over them. Harry took a deep breath in.

"REDUCTO MAXIMA!" he shouted. The troll was knocked sideways a bit. "RUN!" he yelled at the foursome. They didn't need to me told twice. They all ran and stood behind Harry. _Hmm.. that didn't seem to have much effect on the troll, other than momentarily distracting it. Maybe I can just incapacitate it until the Professors arrive. _"Incarcerous Ferrus!" he said, pointing his wand at the troll. Iron bars appeared around the troll, forming a cage. The troll, furious at his new prison, roared at them. The foursome stepped back. Harry stood his ground.

At that moment, Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, Flitwick and Snape walked in. Dumbledore shot a golden flame at the troll and it fell over in its cage, unconscious. McGonagall looked furious. "Potter, Potter, Weasley, Longbottom, Granger! Never in all my years have I ever had students do something so foolish! Explain yourselves!"

Harry spoke up. "I saw my brother, Weasley and Longbottom away from their houses and, knowing that they would end up killing themselves, I followed them. Al's my brother, so I'd prefer it if he stayed alive." he said, half-jokingly.

"Very well. What were you three doing?" McGonagall enquired.

"Ehm.. Hermione wasn't at the feast, so she didn't hear the warning about the troll. We went to find her. When we arrived, the troll had her cornered." Al answered.

"May I ask, whose work the cage was?" Dumbledore asked.

"That would be me. When I arrived they were all cornered by the troll. I shot a blasting curse at it, but it did nothing other than cause it to stumble. That stumble was enough to let them escape. I used a modified 'Incarcerous' to make the cage, as I knew we couldn't kill it." Harry replied.

"It is quite impressive. 50 points to Ravenclaw for impressive spell-work, bravery and most importantly, knowing your limits. You knew that the troll was too powerful for you to kill, so you settled for holding it off until we could arrive. Ten points to Gryffindor for you three," he said, gesturing at the boys, "for bravery. Off you go to your common rooms now."

Harry left without so much as an acknowledgement of the other four and went straight up to the tower. Exhausted, he climbed into bed.

**A/N please review, thanks for reading.**


	5. Grief and Transformations

**Disclaimer- JKR owns all**

Albus Dumbledore called a meeting with the heads of houses that evening, after dealing with the troll. The events of the evening were most curious and he felt the need to get to the bottom of it. _Why did someone let in the Troll? Was it something to do with the Stone? What on earth was he supposed to do about the character that is Harry Potter?_ _The boy is undoubtedly powerful, but how did he know such an advanced spell and how did he know how to modify it? He was turning into everything that Neville Longbottom should've been. Dumbledore even saw some of himself in the boy. If it wasn't for the thrice damned scar on Neville's forehead, Harry would be the perfect candidate for the Prophecy._ Dumbledore sighed. _I will have to observe both boys more closely._ When Snape, McGonagall, Flitwick and Sprout were all pleasant, he began.

"We've all had a long evening, so I'll keep this meeting short," he started. "How on earth was that troll let in? And how did a first-year student incapacitate it single-handedly?"

"Headmaster, I have no idea about the first question, but as for the Potter boy, as grudgingly as I want to admit it, he has shown considerable talents in my class. His skill matches that of my OWL candidates." Snape said tonelessly.

"Is he the same in your classes?" Dumbledore asked, looking at Sprout, McGonagall and Flitwick. The Gryffindor and Ravenclaw heads nodded, while Sprout still looked unsure.

"Pomona, does he have particular difficulty in your class?"

"No Albus, he's top of the class, but he isn't quite at the level that the other Professors maintain he is."

"Interesting. What I am most curious about is how he learnt such advanced magic and how he knew how to make modifications to it." Dumbledore said. Flitwick and McGonagall both looked at their feet when he said this. "Fillius, Minerva do either of you have anything to say?"

"The boy is a prodigy Albus," McGonagall began. "On his first day, he transfigured all of his matchsticks into needles with a single spell. Never before in a student have I seen such brilliance, so I decided to offer him advanced lessons. Currently, we are working on human transfigurations." _To say that Dumbledore was impressed would be an understatement. Human transfigurations were NEWT level material._

"What about you, Fillius?"

"Do you remember the story on the first day of term, about him supposedly playing a prank about me and levitating me?" Flitwick asked. Dumbledore nodded. "That was an accident. We were practicing the incantation for the levitating charm without wands. I asked Mr Potter to say the words to make sure that he was saying them correctly. He said them and I flew into the air. When he maintained that he did it wandlessly, I asked him to wait behind and told him about his affinity for wandless magic. I offered him lessons. He can now control his magic correctly without a wand, and do all charms up to OWL level wandlessly." _This boy seems to be as, or even more powerful than Albus himself. He was unable to do and control wandless magic at that age. Everything would be much simpler, if he were the boy of the prophecy and Neville was just a coincidence. However, if he isn't, he could just as easily turn dark. He must be watched closely._

"I see." He dismissed them and Flitwick, McGonagall and Sprout left. Snape hovered.

"Severus, you have somethimg you wish to discuss with me?" Dumbledore asked.

"Headmaster, I believe that Quirrel is the one responsible for the night's events. There has been something... off about him since he came back from his round the world trip. I have no proof, but I believe that it was a distraction, so that he could go after the stone." Snape said.

"Interesting.. keep an eye on him, scare him a bit if you must. Do you know if tonight's events are related at all to the death of Stephanie Jones? I've been doing some tests on the shattered remnants of the broom and it seems that it was cursed. It seems to be too odd, to have two such events that close to each other, for them not to be interrelated."

Snape looked surprised. "I hadn't thought of that. He may be, but I wasn't paying close attention to him then,"

"Oh well, if you find anything, please report to me immediately." Snape was then dismissed too and Dumbledore retired to his private chamber. _Quirrel? Really? He doesn't seem the sort to be after material wealth, like such that would come from the stone. But Snape was right, there was definitely something odd about him since he came back from his tour. Could his tour have gone through Albania? Nonetheless, if Quirrel was responsible for the death of Miss Jones, there would be an uproar. A Hogwarts teacher killing a student! The only reason that there had been no major scandal so far, was Dumbledore's influence at the Daily Prophet and the fact that the girl was muggle-born._

/\/\/\/\/\

Harry returned to his common room that evening, after not saying so much as a word to his brother or his friends. The moment he stepped through the door, people crowded round him and he was swamped with questions.

"Where were you?" "You weren't in your dorm or in the common room." "Did you fight the troll?" After waiting a few seconds for the noise to die down, Harry decided to answer, knowing that he wasn't going to get any rest until he did.

"My brother and his friends decided to fight the troll. I stopped them from doing anything stupid and killing themselves before the Professors arrived." Sounding disappointed, the crowd receded and Harry made his way up to his dorm and lay on his bed, curtains closed. _That idiot brother of mine! No wonder he's a Gryffindor. He, as a first-year with minimal spell knowledge, decided to try and take on a fully grown mountain troll! If I wasn't there... the likelihood is that him and his three friends would be dead. _Deciding that he was too tired to work on his animagus form tonight, he went to sleep.

/\/\/\/\/\

Over the next couple of months, Harry threw himself into his classwork. He spoke only if spoken to and even then, only grudgingly. He was still as reserved as he was at the time of Steph's death, though he was no longer wandering the corridors aimlessly. He was constantly busy. If he wasn't doing his essays, he was practicing his extra spells for his advanced charms and transfiguration or working on his animagus form. In the final tutoring session before the Christmas holidays, Flitwick let slip that wandless magic wasn't tracked by the ministry, even for under-age wizards. For Harry, this had many possible uses. For one, he could practice all of the spells that Flitwick had given him and he could try McGonagall's NEWT level transfigurations wandlessly. Most importantly of all, he could work on his Animagus form.

Harry had been working on that extensively for the past few months. Whenever he had a spare moment, he was trying to will his arms to change into wings, or his mouth into a beak. He was close and believed that he may be able to manage it over the Christmas Holidays, if he had enough spare time.

Christmas at the Hollow was usually a quiet family affair, but jolly nonetheless. The family would spend the days before decorating the house without magic, as his mother deemed it better that way. Harry didn't mind, it was rather therapeutic, but he would have to spend time with his brother. There was still some tension between Harry and Al stemming from Al's friendship with Longbottom. After the affair with the troll, Neville toned down the rants about Harry, as he saved their lives, but the hatred was still there, bubbling below the surface.

On the train home, Harry sat in a carriage by himself and read a book about the history of muggle technology. He found it fascinating. When they reached Kings Cross, he got out. He saw his parents and began to run towards them. Despite ignoring them on their visit, he did miss his parents immensely. They hadn't spoken properly for months and school did get lonely eventually. His mum saw him running and smiled, opening her arms to give him a hug. When he reached her, they he was the recipient of a tight hug. It wasn't suffocating, just nice.

"I missed you," she said, holding back tears.

"I missed you too Mum," Harry replied, almost crying too.

Once his Mum finally let go, he turned to his Dad, who gave him a less overbearing, but still loving hug.

"How was your first term of school? Did you play any pranks? If you didn't I'm disowning you," he said jokingly.

/\/\/\/\/\

Later that evening, they were all home and were dinner. Al was telling James and Lily all about the adventures that he had with Longbottom and Weasley. James was patting him on the back and looking at him fondly every time he said he broke a rule, while Lily was trying to tell him off for it and failing miserably. Once he had run out of stories, James looked at Harry and said,

"What about you Harry? What adventures did you get up to with your friends?"

"I didn't do that much, but there was one time when Al and his friends were being really annoying so we decided to play a prank on them. Me and" _Steph..._ He tried to hold back tears as he ran up to his room. He slammed the door, fell on his bed and started sobbing. It was nice for him, being able to talk to his parents. They were the only ones who were able to help him forget, just by talking to him. It was better than school work for forgetting. Until I told the story and remembered.. That made it_ unbearable. _For a good half hour, he was up in his room, lying on his bed, crying his eyes out, before Lily came up to see him.

She knocked on the door. "Can I come in?" she asked softly.

"OK," Harry said weakly. She came in and sat on the edge of his bed.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

"I'm fine," he said.

"Really?" she said, not believing him. With that he burst into tears again.

"I miss her," he sobbed. Lily pulled him into a hug. He cried in her arms for several hours, his mum just making soothing sounds and comforting him, until he fell asleep. She pulled the covers over him, whispered goodnight, before leaving him red eyed but peaceful.

/\/\/\/\/\

For the next few days, up until Christmas, Harry tried his hardest to keep his emotions in check, as he was putting up the Christmas decorations with his family. They tried to keep the conversation away from sensitive topics. They still discussed school, but from a different angle- classes. When James and Lily found out that Harry was top of the class in everything, they were beside themselves with joy. When he told them, without Al, that he was receiving private lessons from Professor McGonagall and Flitwick, they were as proud as a herd of hippogriffs. However, when they found out about Al failing potions, their reactions were quite the opposite.

"Mum, its not my fault Professor Snape hates me!" Al whined.

"Nonsense, I don't believe that. You've not been working hard enough. What possible reason could Snape have for hating you?" she asked. James shifted uncomfortably in his seat. The result of that conversation was, that for the rest of the holidays, Lily was quizzing Al on the recipes for various potions. If he got them wrong, he had to go and learn them in his room until he got it correct.

When Christmas Day came, Harry woke up early, excited. Despite being a child prodigy, he was still a _child._ Looking at his bedside clock and realizing it was three o'clock, he decided to try his animagus transformation for a while. He willed his body to change, for just over an hour, when suddenly, he felt different. He opened his eyes. His vision had changed. He had almost a panoramic view of the room, but it was from floor height. He had successfully transformed! Excited, Harry changed back and opened his window. After all, an eagle can't fly in a room. Once the window was far enough open for him to get out, he jumped and transformed in mid-air.

The ground was rushing up towards him. For a second, he panicked, before spreading his wings and gliding away. He was flying! The wind whipping through his feathers, while he flew was the most exhilarating feeling in the world. For a few hours, he flew around the early morning sky. After a while, the sun rose, and he decided to go back inside. After all, the rest of the family would be waking up soon, and he didn't want to give them a fright by not being in his room. Just as he re-entered his room through the window and transformed, Al ran into his room.

"Harry! Come on! Its Christmas! Presents!"

**A/N Please review, tell me what is good/bad about the story so far.**


	6. Serpents and Presents

**Disclaimer- JKR owns all**

"Mum! Dad! Wake up!" Harry and Al shouted, running into their parents bedroom. James and Lily were still asleep as they entered. Seeing this, the boys climbed onto their bed and jumped on them.

"Wake up! Its Christmas!" they yelled happily. James stirred, seeing the two boys on top of him,

"Whatimezit?" he mumbled.

"CHRISTMAS TIME!" they shouted back. Upon hearing this, Lily stirred too. James and Lily looked at each other, seemed to have a silent conversation, shrugged their shoulders, then got up grudgingly.

Once everyone was up, they all walked downstairs into the living room. Under the Christmas tree, in the far corner of the room, there were four piles of presents. The Christmas tree itself was a sight to behold. It was eight feet tall, covered from top to bottom with tinsel and magical ornaments. Harry and Al rushed over to their piles and started unwrapping like mad.

Harry received some books on advanced charms and a new Wizard Chess set from his parents and a large box of "Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans" from Alan. He gave his Mum a gift voucher for Flourish and Blotts, and his Dad a voucher for Quality Quiddich supplies. Al was given a book on fighting dangerous magical creatures, with a troll on the front cover. When he opened this, he just looked at Harry and laughed.

"Maybe next time, you'll be better prepared." Harry said jokingly.

"What?" Lily said sharply, "Better prepared for what, next time?"

"Nothing" they both said quickly, covering their tracks.

/\/\/\/\/\

After everyone was finished, Al and Harry decided to play a game of chess, while their Mum was making Christmas dinner. Harry made up an easy strategy, designed to finish the game quickly. As they set up, Al said to him,

"Listen Harry, I'm sorry for ignoring you the past few months at school and not standing up for you when Neville was shouting at you. I just wanted to make friends, since we didn't really have any before Hogwarts and Neville's a really good one for me, so I didn't want to jeopardise that."

"Its OK, I'm glad you made friends but, I'm happy going around on my own. It was mainly your letters to Mum and Dad that annoyed me, as they embarrassed me." The game started. Harry was white, Al was black. Harry moved his pawn forwards. Al mirrored his move.

"OK, lets try not to fight ever again, OK?" Al suggested. Harry moved his Queen and Bishop out in the next two moves.

"OK" said Harry. In the move after that, Harry moved his Queen in, right in-front of his bishop. "Checkmate." Al looked at him, surprised.

"Wow Harry, that was only four moves! You're really good at this!" Six games and three hours later, Al finally gave up.

"You're almost as good as Ron, Harry. Why don't you play him? He's always complaining that no-one in Gryffindor offers him a real challenge." Al said.

"OK, then next time I see him, I'll ask him." Harry agreed.

That afternoon, after a small lunch, the entire family decided to play a full chess tournament. Harry played his Mum first, who he dismantled systematically with ease.

"Harry, how did you get so good at chess? Before this-morning, you didn't play very often, and when you did, you weren't good at all." She asked curiously.

"Ehm.. I don't know. Intuition, I guess? I played once or twice at school, but that was months ago" He replied, looking down, not wanting to bring up the fact that he only played with Steph.

Lily sensed that she'd almost touched on the banned topic of Stephanie and changed the subject quickly. "When I went into your room this morning, your window was open. It's the middle of winter, so why was your window open? Your room is freezing now." She questioned.

_Drat! I'll need to be more careful next time and make it less obvious._ "My room was really warm this morning, so I opened my window for a short while to get some fresh air. But Al came in, suggesting that we get you up so we could open our presents and I forgot about it when we went in to get you."

Next, as James had beaten Al, Harry was playing his dad in the final. After a few moves, it became evident that he was significantly better than Al and his mum. They were watching the game, albeit half-heatedly, as Lily kept having to check the dinner and Al was bored, as chess isn't the most interesting spectator sport. Harry was put under significant pressure early in the game, as James managed to take control of the board. However, Harry spotted an opportunity towards the end and checkmated him, leaving James none the wiser until the final move. As a prize, Harry didn't have to help set up for dinner.

Christmas dinner that evening was delicious. They all sat down to a roast turkey with potatoes and Brussels Sprouts (They were forced to eat them) followed by a portion of Christmas pudding. By the time that they were finished, it was late and they were all tired and decided to head up to bed.

He cast a wandless warming charm on the door to his room, so that his parents wouldn't be suspicious then opened his window. Feeling the cold air against his skin, he closed his eyes and willed his body to take the form of an eagle. As he transformed, he felt the magic run through him. He was relieved, knowing that when he did it that morning it wasn't a fluke. Opening his eyes, spread his wings and flew.

It was a cloudless night. The crescent moon was bright in the sky, illuminating the ground beneath him. He flew over the church. To an onlooker, the silhouette of the church with the eagle in the background was a sight to behold. He flew over the chimneys of the thatched-roof homes, taking in the warmth of the fires beneath. He flew over the graveyard, stopping to pay his respects to his grandparents- the late Lord and Lady Potter. He flew over the square, marvelling at the beauty of the statue of the lion in its centre. Finally, he flew home, as clouds began to appear and snow began to fall.

When he reached his open window, he glided inside before transforming. His room was freezing. Closing the window, he performed several warming charms all over his room, before crashing on his bed, exhausted and going to sleep.

/\/\/\/\/\

The next day, Harry had lots of spare time, for the first time since he got home. There was no decorating needing done, or trees to put up, or meals to cook (they had enough turkey to last several weeks of sandwiches). To fill this time, Harry decided to practice his wandless magic. He cleared a space in the centre of his room. Summoning a quill off his desk, he transfigured it into a stuffed goat, then animated the goat to sing "O Come, All Ye Faithful" while tap dancing. He then conjured a serpent. Harry was shocked when the snake hiss at him, but talked to him instead!

"Greetings master. My name is Ssarut." the snake said. Harry stepped back, shocked.

"Why can I understand you?" Harry asked. _Can it understand me when I talk, or is it only vice versa?_

"You are a sspeaker of snake tongue," Ssarut said. Harry raised his eyebrows. _I'm a Parselmouth? That's new. How did I get this gift? The last known one was Voldemort and before him, the only well-known one was Slytherin himself. I doubt Mum or Dad are ones, but it won't hurt to ask them. _Vanishing Ssarut, but deciding to keep the goat, naming it Joseph, Harry went downstairs. James and Lily Potter were sitting on the sofa, listening to the wireless.

"Mum, Dad?" Harry started. They turned round to look at him. He decided to get straight to the point. "Are either of you two Parselmouths?"

"What? No! Why do you ask Harry," James questioned, surprised. _Oh hell, they'll find out eventually anyway._

"Conjure a snake." Lily pulled out her wand and complied. A small grass snake appeared on the floor of the living room,"

"Hello," Harry said to the snake. That wasn't what his parents heard. They heard a hissing noise, that turned to screeching at the end. The snake looked up at Harry.

"You speak the noble tongue of the serpents?" the snake asked. Harry looked up at his parents, who were suitably gobsmacked.

"You can vanish it now." Lily complied. After a minute of silence, Lily spoke.

"Harry, you're a Parselmouth? Why didn't you tell us before? How did you find out? How did you receive the gift? Neither me or James is one." She started firing questions at him. James stayed silent, presumably in shock.

"Yes, I'm a Parselmouth. I didn't tell you before because I didn't know before. I found out because there was a snake in my room that I told to go away and it responded. I have no idea how I got it, that's why I asked you in the first place." Harry said, leaving out his wandless magic for now.

There was more silence, for another few minutes, after which James spoke up.

"My son.." he began. "My son's a bloody Parselmouth. How the hell.." He walked out of the room and into the garden, muttering to himself and shaking his head.

/\/\/\/\/\

For the rest of the holidays, Harry was in the library, reading the books about Potter ancestry and Parseltongue. Being a _Potter _library, the books about Parseltongue, an art normally considered dark, were few and far between. However, the books about famous Potters were much more common. Harry's Great Grandfather was a celebrated auror, killing the darkest wizards of his time. But he wasn't a Parselmouth. Edward Potter, was Minister for Magic in the 1600s. But he wasn't a Parselmouth. Tiberius Potter was a vampire hunter. But he wasn't a Parselmouth. None of his ancestors had the gist, it seemed.

The two books he found on Parseltongue were far more interesting. "Snake-Speakers and their Great Achievements" told Harry about the less famous Parselmouths. One was a famous alchemist and another created Polyjuice Potion. This re-assured Harry that not all Parselmouths were dark, something that had worried him greatly. However, the book did talk about far more dark wizards than light wizards, so his fear wasn't completely assuaged.

The other book, "The Art of Parseltongue, by Ernest Gaunt" was much more informative. After Harry went through the trouble of opening it, (he had to tell it to open in Parseltongue) it told him about all of the major gifts he received, as a result of his abilities. He could read a different language which, to his shock, the book was written in and Harry hadn't noticed. It seemed like English to him, but to anyone else, it was a series of oddly shaped squiggles.

He could perform an entirely different branch of magic, known as parselmagic, which was basically just standard spells, but by saying them in Parseltongue, they were given even more power. A stunner in Parseltongue, would break through any shield and send the person into a coma for several days. A downside of parselmagic was that it had to be done verbally, but unless against other snake-speakers, that wouldn't matter as they wouldn't understand it anyway. It also had to be done with a wand, so Harry couldn't practice it until he got back to school, which frustrated Harry greatly. It could pop up randomly, but once the gift appeared, it was hereditary, so all of Harry's children would inherit the ability.

Harry had asked his parents not to tell anyone about it, as it would lead to people thinking that he was a dark wizard when he went back to school. To this, his father joked, "Only if you promise not to set a python on anyone at school" Harry laughed and agreed.

Every night, once everyone else was asleep, Harry would practice his flying, as an eagle around the village. It was refreshing, after a day in the library, to feel the cool breeze against oneself and glide through the clouds.

/\/\/\/\/\

Eventually, the time came for Harry and Al to go back to Hogwarts. This time, the goodbye was much less emotional, although Lily was still teary eyed. As Harry gave his Dad a hug, he pushed a mirror into his hand. "If you ever need someone to talk to, about anything, just say my name into the mirror and we can have a chat."

"Thanks Dad," he said, smiling at him. _I probably won't need it, but its a good idea all the same._ Harry and Al got onto the train and ended up sitting in a carriage with Hermione Granger, the girl who they had rescued from the troll. Apparently, Weasley couldn't go home as his family was in Romania visiting his brother and Longbottom was staying at Hogwarts too. This made it bearable to sit with Al's friends. Hermione seemed nice enough. She, like Harry spent the journey with a book in her hand, while Al was pretty bored with no-one to talk to and eventually pulled out a Quiddich magazine. Harry couldn't concentrate on the book though, as he was too excited to get back to Hogwarts, so he could practice parselmagic.

As soon as the train arrived, Harry went up to his dorm, dumped his luggage on his bed and went off in search of an abandoned classroom. Once he found one suitably far away from anywhere that people were likely to come, he put up several strong notice-me-not charms, which would stop anyone who wasn't directly looking for him from finding him. After closing and locking the door, he began.

" Wingardium Leviosa " he hissed, pointing his wand at a table. The table shot up and smashed against the ceiling. A peculiar feeling rushed through Harry as he used the spell.

" Reducto " a wooden chair was blasted across the room. When Harry went over to examine it, there were only wood chippings left.

" Diffindo " Another table was now split into two pieces, cut perfectly down the middle. _Let's try some more basic charms now_.

" Lumos " The room was filled with a blinding white light and for several seconds after, Harry couldn't see a thing. _Drat. That probably broke through the notice-me-not charms. Considering what happened in here, people were probably blinded on the other side of the school. People are probably coming to investigate now._ Harry put on his invisibility cloak and disappeared. As he was walking away, he saw Snape and McGonagall walking furiously in the other direction, presumably to find the cause. Harry inwardly cursed. _I forgot to fix the tables and chairs, now they'll know where the light came from and I'll need to find a new classroom._

/\/\/\/\/\

That night at dinner, Dumbledore stood up after most people had finished eating.

"As I am sure you are all aware, there was an incident this afternoon, where a mysterious light bathed the castle. The source of the light was in an abandoned classroom on the fourth floor. Several tables and chairs were destroyed in this room. I know who was responsible. If that person would come forward and speak to me within the next few days, I would be most grateful. If they don't wish for the entire castle to know they are, they will comply. I will announce the culprit at dinner on Friday, along with a weeks detention for damaging school property. You will not be punished if you come to my office before Friday, I only wish to talk to you." Dumbledore said. While saying the last part, he looked directly at Harry. _He's not bluffing. Oh shit..._

**A/N Will Harry go and talk to Dumbledore? What will Dumbledore do if he does? Please Read and Review**


	7. Lessons

**Disclaimer- I own nothing, JKR owns all**

_Oh shit..._ Harry ate his meal as quickly as he could while trying not to look guilty. He couldn't stop himself from glancing up to the teacher's table from time to time, to check if he was being watched. It didn't seem like it to him, until one of the times, Dumbledore caught his eye. Then, Harry knew he'd been had. There was no way that Dumbledore didn't know now.

As soon as he'd finished, Harry rushed back up to Ravenclaw Tower, entered his dorm, sat on his bed and pulled the curtains. After quickly reapplying the silencing charms, he screamed. And he screamed. And he screamed. If there was anyone else in the room, they would've noticed that every bed in the room was now rattling, the fire had gone out and the windows were cracking.

When he had no more energy left in him, he stopped and panted angrily. _How could I have been so stupid? Now I need to talk to Dumbledore about it and he will know that I'm a Parselmouth and tell everyone and I'll be prejudiced against for the rest of my life!_ After a few minutes of deep breathing, he had calmed down considerably. He began to think of a plan. _What if I send him an owl, telling him that I will meet him on the condition that the meeting and its contents remain a secret? I'm not in a good position to bargain, but there's no harm in trying. _He jumped off his bed and grabbed a quill and some ink. Sitting at his desk, he began to write.

_Professor Dumbledore,_

_You have requested a meeting with me, but I fear that what I will tell you will lead to certain amounts of prejudice against me from the rest of the school. Would it be possible for the meeting and all of its aspects to remain a secret from everyone aside from you and I? Please owl me back with your response._

_You Know Who_

Smirking at his own wit, Harry went for a late night walk under the cloak to the Owlery, found Hedwig and sent off his letter.

/\/\/\/\/\

Professor Dumbledore was sitting at his desk, reading over the newest piece of legislation he was going to suggest to the Wizengamot. However, he wasn't concentrating on it particularly hard. The events from the afternoon had troubled him greatly. A great white light pulsed through the castle, travelling through its foot-thick walls and blinding many of its occupants for several seconds. Dumbledore had gone to investigate immediately. While walking out of his office, he could feel the strong magical power radiating from the environment and started walking in the direction that made it stronger. After several minutes, he found the epicentre.

It was in a classroom. He could feel the raw residual power as he entered the room. What he saw was unlike anything he had seen or felt before. Most of the desks and chairs had been smashed in some way or other. But that wasn't what disturbed him the most.

The nature of the magic itself wasn't like anything he had ever come across before. To find something new, after over a century of studying magic was something special. It didn't seem to be dark magic, but it wasn't light either. It was just... different.

After banishing the other Professors who'd come to investigate, he interrogated some of the surrounding portraits, to see if they'd seen anything. It appeared they had. A small boy, probably a first-year, with messy black hair, glasses and a Ravenclaw tie was seen walking down the corridor shortly before the event. There was only one boy that Dumbledore knew to fit that description. His name was Harry Potter.

That troubled him greatly. Harry Potter had already shown his considerable talents in class and now, he was using a completely unknown branch of magic that was more powerful than any magic that Dumbledore had seen out of anyone except himself and Lord Voldemort. Something had to be done about the boy. He was one of the three boys of the Prophecy. Currently, he was the best suited to defeating Voldemort. If he were to turn dark by himself, it would be the beginning of another war. If he were to join Voldemort once he returned, it would be the beginning of a new age of darkness.

He resolved to try and solve the problem diplomatically. He would summon the boy to his office and listen to what he had to say about the events. In the end, Dumbledore would probably offer him lessons to help him control his magic and hopefully gain some trust with the boy.

He stood up, ready to go to bed, when there was a tapping at the window. A snowy-white owl was waiting for him. He went over to open the window, let the bird in and read the letter. He allowed himself a small smile at the boy's sense of humour. The conditions mentioned were easily adhered to, so Dumbledore sent a note back saying so.

It was less than two minutes later the owl returned.

_Seven-thirty, Wednesday evening._

/\/\/\/\/\

Wednesday evening came around far too quickly for Harry. In the days leading up to it, he couldn't concentrate properly in class (not that he needed to), as all that he could think about was what was going to happen at the meeting. He hoped that Dumbledore wouldn't expel him, or tell anyone about his abilities, but he couldn't hold him to anything.

People around the school were still talking about who they thought was responsible. Everyone was gossiping about who they thought looked guilty and who was magically powerful enough. Harry was, of-course overlooked as he was a first-year and they were not deemed to be magically powerful enough to perform such spells.

One of the people gossiping about it was Longbottom. "The person who did it is obviously a dark wizard," he began. "It would take powerful dark magic to break through the castle walls." he said to a group of people surrounding him. At this point Harry thought it was time to interrupt.

"Longbottom, when the magic was cast, what did you see?" Harry asked.

"A white light, obviously," he replied arrogantly.

"Exactly. A pure white light. How can anything that produces a pure white light be dark magic?" Harry queried.

"Ehm.." Harry walked away, satisfied. He knew that the logic wasn't sound, as dark magic was just a term and had nothing to do with the spells, but Longbottom didn't know that.

At seven-fifteen on Wednesday evening, he slipped out of the Ravenclaw common room under his cloak and headed towards Dumbledore's office. He was nervous, but he was planning to act confident. He was going to tell Dumbledore everything about his powers. He approached the gargoyles and it occurred to him that he wasn't given a password. It didn't matter, as even under the cloak, he was automatically given access.

He walked up the spiral staircase and opened the door. Dumbledore was sitting in a comfortable chair behind his desk.

"Ah Harry, you came. I was wondering whether or not you'd turn up." He raised his wand and conjured a cosy red and gold armchair for Harry to sit on.

"Headmaster, that chair won't do at all." Harry said, keeping up his confident attitude. Wandlessly and silently, he changed the chair's colour to a sky blue. If the headmaster was surprised at this he didn't show it, he merely looked amused.

"Would you care for a game of chess Harry? It would provide amicable background for our discussion, don't you think?" Harry nodded. A set was summoned from the other side of the office and placed on the table, already set up. Harry was white and Dumbledore was black. After a few moves, Dumbledore spoke.

"What you did a few minutes ago was a remarkable display of wandless and non-verbal magic combined. May I ask how you managed it, as well as knowing a colour changing charm? You wouldn't normally be able to do non-verbal magic until sixth-year and the colour change charm is a third-year spell." Harry looked up from the game at him, narrowing his eyes.

"I think, given the circumstances, that this is of little importance but I shall answer anyway. I have been reading textbooks from our library at Godric's Hollow since I was young. I know most spells up to and including NEWT level in charms and transfiguration. As for the wandless magic, I'm sure that Professor Flitwick has already told you." Harry said.

"I see. Is your theory at the same level as your practical?" Dumbledore queried.

"Yes" Harry moved his rook to take a pawn. "Check."

"Would you even consider it if I asked you to move up to third or fourth year?"

"No. I would leave school unable to perform magic for another two years, because of the Under-age Wizardry Act"

"I thought not." Dumbledore moved his king out of check. "Now for the true topic of this evening's meeting. Were you responsible for the bright light on Sunday night?"

"Yes."

"I see. When I investigated the area after the event, I found magical residue of a kind I have never seen before in my life."

"It was parselmagic." Now Dumbledore did look surprised.

"Parselmagic? But that would make you a..." Harry wandlessly conjured a snake.

" Greetings noble serpent " He then vanished it.

"You're a Parselmouth." It wasn't a question.

"Yes."

"One of only two alive."

"Yes."

The rest of the evening consisted of Harry telling Dumbledore about parselmagic and its power, while they played several games of chess. After a fifth game, Dumbledore said to him,

"I think that is enough chess for this evening. I would like to offer you extra lessons, at the same time as your transfiguration and charms classes, as well as your extra evening lessons. McGonagall and Flitwick won't be able to teach you much more now anyway. I can teach you anything they did, as well as some.. more interesting topics. We cannot do anything with parselmagic in the school, but I will be able to take you to some places where you will be able to hone your skills with it. Do you accept my proposal?" Harry thought about it. _It gets me out of two classes that I find incredibly easy and just mess around in, so that I can do something much more enjoyable._

"Very well. I accept."

/\/\/\/\/\

For Harry, the meeting had gone considerably better than expected. Dumbledore wasn't prejudiced against him for his abilities, he wasn't going to be kicked out of school and he was receiving extra lessons with the Headmaster. When walking back to his dorm, Harry was in a very good mood.

His mood lasted for a long time. His classes were easy and pointless for Harry, as always, but his lessons with the Headmaster were fascinating. Firstly, they went over the topic of Arithmancy and its uses. Normally that would taught only in and beyond third-year and was widely considered the hardest subject in Hogwarts. But for Harry, who'd read up on it beforehand, it was quite simple and he was at OWL level in it by the Easter Holidays. They were going to stop their lessons for the two-week break. While on his way to the final lesson before the holidays, he saw his brother, Longbottom, Weasley and Hermione Granger coming out of the library. Harry quickly hid behind a pillar. The girl had a very loud voice.

"So is that what's being hidden then? Nicholas Flamel has asked Dumbledore to hide the Philosopher's Stone? That's what Snape wants to steal!" Harry snorted. _Snape? Try and steal something from Dumbledore? Not bloody likely. He's not stupid, he knows that it would be almost impossible to take something from Dumbledore unless he wants you to. Hang on, is that what's hidden in the third floor corridor? I'll ask Dumbledore._

"Shh, keep your voice down Hermione! Someone might hear you!" Al said. Harry just walked off, unnoticed.

/\/\/\/\/\

His final lesson with Dumbledore was enjoyable, as the topic was fascinating. He was learning about the calculations required before being able to enlarge rooms so that they are bigger on the inside than the outside. At the end, Harry hesitated as he stood up to leave.

"Professor?" he began. "I was wondering what you could tell me about.. Nicholas Flamel and the Philosopher's Stone?" Dumbledore merely looked at him, amused.

"You figured it out then? I thought you might. The Philosopher's Stone is a magical object that is very difficult to make. It turns any metal into gold and produces the elixir of life, which makes the drinker immortal. Nicholas Flamel is the only known producer of such an object and is currently over six hundred years old."

"That's what's hidden in the third floor corridor." It wasn't a question.

"Yes, there is one who wishes to steal it and Hogwarts is the safest place for it."

"My brother believes that one is Snape."

"And you?"

"I disagree. While Snape seems the sort, it's all an act. He isn't actually like that, he just wants the students to fear him. I reckon that Voldemort has something to do with it though."

"Correct." Harry looks at him, surprised.

"You know this, but don't act upon it?"

"I plan to bait the one who will try to get the stone out of hiding by disappearing from the school for a few days in a month or two. They will go after the stone. When they do, keep an eye on your brother and his friends, as they are likely to go after Voldemort's follower. Go with them. If Mr Longbottom were clever enough to get past all of the obstacles put in place, I wouldn't ask you. However, his arrogance is his undoing and he will need help. Once he comes into contact with the follower, he will be safe, due to the protection put on him by his mother at the time of his death." Harry frowned.

"But why are you risking Voldemort getting the stone ?" Harry asked.

"Neville is destined to destroy Voldemort." Dumbledore said simply. "He must be helped. Experience is the best form of help. The stone will not fall into Voldemort's hands. There is one protection that he will not be able to pass."

Harry thought about it for a minute. "Alright then, I'll help them when the time comes, but not for Longbottom's sake, but my brother's. Send me a message somehow when you are leaving." With that, he walked out of the office.

**A/N Please read and review.**


	8. Confrontations

**Disclaimer- JKR owns all**

The message didn't come until a couple of weeks before school was due to end, after the exams were finished. Harry's exams were easy for him and he was confident that aced them all without doing very much work on them. He'd used the spare time to work on his wolf form, which was progressing nicely. He could now transform both of his arms and legs in one go. He felt ready for the full transformation, but he didn't want to risk it until he was sure.

His lessons with Dumbledore were fascinating as always and Harry felt like he was progressing well with the topic of Arithmancy, which Dumbledore believed that they would be finished with by next October.

The message came in the form of a phoenix patronus, which followed Harry down an abandoned corridor on a lazy Sunday evening. Dumbledore's voice came out of it.

"Harry, it is happening. They are in Gryffindor Tower now, but are about to leave for the third floor now. You know what to do." The phoenix disappeared. Harry put on his invisibility cloak and headed to the third floor corridor, to wait for his brother and his friends. After a while, he saw a lone figure coming down the corridor. _This must be the one who wants to steal the stone._ The silhouette approached him, and soon became more clear. It was Quirrel! He didn't walk or act with his usual nervousness and he seemed to have a purpose. He opened a door and soon, soft music was heard coming through the door.

Soon after, his brother, along with Weasley, Longbottom and Granger appeared and just as they were about to go through the door, Harry revealed himself to them. Granger screamed.

"Nice welcome," Harry said sarcastically.

"It's you, isn't it? You're the one who wants to steal the stone!" Longbottom accused. _How stupid can you get? _

"Longbottom, if I wanted to steal the stone, would I reveal myself to you? No, I want to help you. A little bird told me that you would be foolish enough to chase whoever wanted the stone tonight. I am offering you my assistance." Harry said.

"I don't know Harry, its dangerous.." Al said. Harry laughed humourlessly.

"Al I'm the best in the year. I know more spells than the four of you put together. I can handle myself, trust me." Harry said.

"Prove it." Weasley said, finding his voice.

"If you wish," He pointed his wand at Weasley. "Stupefy." Weasley fell to the ground. Granger screamed. Al went pale. Longbottom charged at Harry, yelling, "You killed him, you bastard!" Harry shielded himself from Longbottom's attacks them silenced them all with a quick charm.

"I didn't kill him, I stunned him. If you'll let me near him, I'll wake him up again. If you don't, I'll stun you all and chase them myself. Do I make myself clear?" He received three nods.

"Enervate." Weasley's eyes opened.

"What happened?"

"You asked me to prove that I knew more spells that you, I stunned you to do that." Harry said matter-of-factly. "Can we go after the stone now?" Four heads nodded at him and he cancelled the silencing charm.

The five of them walked through the door and saw a sleeping Cerberus, over eight feet long with three heads. Music was playing on a magical harp. There was a trapdoor at their feet. Harry opened the grate and saw a slide, big enough to only fit one person at a time lying down. Harry looked back at the rest of them, who had fear in their eyes. He shrugged his shoulders and jumped down.

The slide was long and after about a minute or two, Harry landed in a pit filled with a plant of sorts. It had hundreds of long roots, but it didn't seem to have any flowers or leaves or anything. As soon as he landed, the roots started to attack him and hold him in position, wrapping around his arms and legs. Al landed next, followed by Weasley, then Granger, then Longbottom. _Hmm.. A plant that attacks you, lives in cold, damp areas and is consisted almost entirely of roots. That makes this.. Devil's Snare!_

"Incendio!" Harry shouted. He could've done it wandlessly, but he didn't want anyone to know about that yet. The roots cowered away and the five of them were dropped into another chamber.

It was a dark corridor. Harry led the group down the corridor, using Lumos to light the way. At the end of the corridor, there was a large wooden door. Harry opened it and stepped inside. There were brooms lined up against the wall and the room seemed to be filled with small winged insects. _Wait.. they're not insects._

"What d'you think we're supposed to do here?" Al asked. "Do we need to fly through the insects or something?"

"Those aren't insects Al," Harry said. "They're keys. Someone needs to pick out the correct one for that door, fly to it, catch it and bring it down. Most likely its the one with the bent wing." _I wonder if these are charmed against Finite Incantatem. Probably not. It's too simple. They wouldn't have thought of it._

"I'll do it." Neville boldly said. "I'm the best flyer. You can't solve this one with magic, Potter."

"Let me try something first." Harry pointed his wand in the general area of the keys. Putting as much energy into the spell as possible, he shouted "FINITE INCANTATEM" The keys all dropped to the ground. Harry picked up the one he believed to fit in the door, picked it up and put it through. There was a satisfying click and the door opened.

This next chamber, was dark, but barely light enough to see. In-front of them, was a massive chess board. On the other side of the board was the exit. It was apparent that they had to win the game to pass.

"Chess!" Weasley said excitedly. "Finally, something that I'm good at!"

"I also happen to be quite good, Weasley. How about we control the game together?"

"Al, is he really good, or is he just boasting?" Weasley asked his brother.

"Honestly," Al began. "I don't know who's better." After a few seconds, Weasley said

"Alright Potter, you've got yourself a deal. How do you want to play this then?" For the next few minutes, Weasley and Potter discussed chess strategy and their game plan. Once they were ready, Harry and Al both rode on knights, Weasley was a bishop, Longbottom the queen and Hermione a rook.

They were evenly matched with their opponents. However, they got a fright when the first piece was taken. Their knight took out its sword and smashed a pawn into small pieces.

"What do you think will happen when one of us gets taken?" Al asked fearfully.

"I doubt they care whether you're human or a chess piece. We'll do our best not to let you get taken." Harry said, showing a brave face. However, inside, he was terrified._ What if something happened to one of them?_

Their refusal to lose any piece that a person played on gave the opponent the advantage. Soon, they were two or three moves away from being checkmated, when Harry saw an opportunity. He looked at Weasley. He saw it too. It involved Weasley's bishop, Hermione's rook and Al's knight being taken. It would leave Longbottom free to move up to checkmate the king, protected by Harry.

"Weasley, you see this?" Harry asked. Weasley nodded, hesitantly. "What d'you think? Someone needs to reach the stone. If we don't do this, then we inevitably lose. But, its not my life on the line, so its your call."

"I'm game, but we need to ask the others." he said. "Al, Hermione, Longbottom! We can turn this around and win. But the only way to do this is to sacrifice me, Al and Hermione. That would leave Neville free to checkmate the king. What do you think? If anything happens to us, it would leave Neville and Harry to confront the thief."

"We.. we would be sacrificed?" Al asked.

"Yes. It's the only way. If we continue as we have done, we'll all likely be taken before the checkmate, and we have no idea what will happen to the pieces if they win." After a few seconds where Al and Hermione seemed to be having a silent conversation, they said simultaneously, "I'm in."

The strategy was played out. Harry watched as his brother and his friends were smashed with massive metal swords. Harry found it increasingly difficult not to go and check on them, as if he left his space before the end of the game, they forfeit.

Eventually, Neville called "Checkmate." Their King fell over and was smashed as the game ended. Harry and Neville ran over to check on their friends. Harry found a pulse in all of them, although Hermione was surrounded by a large pool of blood. Harry sent a quick patronus to Dumbledore asking him to take them to the hospital wing. Then Harry and Neville advanced.

Normally, after this amount of time in each other's company, Harry and Neville would be at each other's throats. But they were to busy worrying about Al, Ron and Hermione to bother at that moment. The next obstacle was a riddle, involving potions. Considering that Harry was a Ravenclaw, he was no stranger to riddles. It only took him a minute to solve it. Harry and Neville both took a sip of a potion in a black bottle and stepped through some black flames, to enter the last chamber.

They walked down some steps and saw, in-front of them, the Mirror of Erised, with Quirrel in front of it. Neville ran down, shouting at him, "YOU!" while Harry stayed in the shadows. _Idiot, giving away the element of surprise._

Quirrel turned round. "Yes, me."

"But.. Snape!" he stuttered. Quirrel only laughed.

"Severus? Yes, he does seem the sort, doesn't he? Besides him, with his dark and intimidating manner, who would suspect ppoor, sstuttering Quirrel?" he asked rhetorically. "Now, back to the matter at hand, how do I get the stone? When I look in the mirror, I see myself, presenting the stone to my master. How do I turn that dream to reality?"

_"Use the boy"_ a high pitched voice said, seemingly coming from nowhere.

"Longbottom!" Quirrel snapped. "Stand in-front of the mirror and tell me what you see."

"I.. I see myself holding the Quiddich cup. I'm captain. We've just beaten Ravenclaw for the cup. Potter is their captain." Neville said unsurely.

_"He lies. The boy lies. Let me speak to him" _The voice said.

"Very well, Longbottom, it's time for you to meet my master" With that, Quirrel unwound his turban, the cloth falling to the floor. In its place, there was a grotesque, nose-less, pale face.

_"Neville Longbottom, we finally meet again. Ten years it has been, since my downfall. Ten years, since I murdered your parents and nearly you as-well"_

"It's you?" he asked. "You're You-Know-Who?"

_"Yes. I am. I can see your thoughts Neville. I can tell what you see in that mirror. You see yourself, holding the Philosopher's Stone. You can feel it in your pocket now. We could be powerful together, you know. We could rule the world. All you have to do, is give it to me."_

Harry chose this moment to interfere. _Act confident and you will always come out on top. _

"Good evening Voldemort," he said, strolling down the steps.

"_Who are you, boy?_" Voldemort hissed. Continuing with his confident attitude, he approached the Dark Lord.

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Harry James Potter, son of James and Lily Potter," Voldemort let out a laugh. He muttered to himself in a language that seemed like hissing and screeching to everyone other than Harry.

" _The boy's of the prophecy come forth to stop me together, how poetic. _"

" Poetic? What do you mean by that? And what is the Prophecy you speak of? " Now Voldemort gasped in shock, along with Neville. Voldemort switched back to English.

"_You speak it? The language of the snakes?" Shit. I never meant to do that._

"_It is of no consequence now, but as soon as Neville here gives me the stone, I will give you an offer- to be one of my followers. But first, I must have that stone boy!" _His voice was raised to shrieking. " _ I have waited far too long for this, suffering through Quirrel's incompetencies, like jinxing the Mudblood's broom"_ Harry felt like he had just been punched in the gut.

_Quirrel killed Steph? That.. that bastard!_

"YOU!" he shouted. "YOU KILLED MY BEST AND ONLY FRIEND!" Voldemort only laughed.

_"She was a Mudblood. What does it matter? You are a foolish boy and she was a Mudblood. You shouldn't associate with people like that Harry, it will lead to your downfall."_

Harry, not entirely in control of his actions any more, pulled out his wand and hissed in Parseltongue. " Reducto Maxima!"

Quirrel-Voldemort was thrown backwards, into the mirror and they were shattered into dust. Out of the pile of dust, a dark cloud, shaped like a skull rose up and flew straight towards Harry, screaming. It flew right through him, causing great pain. Harry collapsed. The last thing he thought of before he lost consciousness was _Vengeance.._

**A/N Thanks to Katzztar and WalkingStranger99 who notified me of the formatting problems**


	9. Summer

**Disclaimer- JKR owns all**

Harry could hear voices. He could hear words in hushed voices.

"How is he Albus?" _That one sounded female._

"He's stable and his condition is improving. He should wake up at some point today" _Older, male._

"Would you care to tell us what happened to him?" _Male again, though younger_.

"If I knew then I would, but only Harry knows all the truth. I can tell you that Professor Quirrel is dead and Harry had something to do with it, but that's all." _The older man again. Who's the Harry he's talking about? And who's Quirrel?_ The memories came flooding back to him all of a sudden. His eyes shot open. He closed them almost immediately, as he was hit with the blinding light of the sun shining off his bed. He gave off a groan.

"Harry!" he finally recognised the voice as that of his mother. Arms were enclosed around him, in a tight hug.

"Mum" he croaked. He realised how dry his throat was when he spoke. "Water" He felt a goblet being pushed against his lips and he opened his mouth, letting the water in. After he'd had enough, he cleared his throat and tried to open his eyes again. He found the light more bearable this time. He could make out three figures around his bed- Professor Dumbledore and his Mum and Dad.

"How are you feeling Harry?" Dumbledore asked. Harry shrugged in response, before wincing at the pain in his arms. "We would appreciate it if you could tell us what happened, but we understand if you need to sleep first." Harry nodded and said "Sleep." He closed his eyes and was asleep within minutes.

A few hours later, he awoke. His parents were no longer there, but Dumbledore was. He looked out the window to see that it was dark. They were probably asleep.

"Professor," he began. "I'm ready to give you my recollections of yesterday's events now."

Dumbledore chucked. "Yesterday? Harry, you were unconscious for several days." _Several days? Merlin.._

Harry told Dumbledore the story of what happened from the beginning, where he'd stunned Weasley to prove that he was better at magic than them, to attacking Quirrel-Voldemort after finding out that he killed Steph. After he finished his story, Dumbledore said nothing for a few minutes, quietly pondering over what he was just told.

"Why did he do it?" Harry blurted out. Dumbledore turned round to look at him, startled. "Why did he kill Steph? What danger did she pose to him?"

"You said to me that Voldemort was listing Quirrel's failures when he mentioned Miss Jones. I believe that the jinx wasn't meant for her, but rather for a certain first-year who had already made an enemy of the Dark Lord, when they were only one year old." _Longbottom! Of-course!_

"You're saying that it was Longbottom who was meant to die? That would make sense." Harry said thoughtfully.

/\/\/\/\/\

Dumbledore told him the stone had been destroyed as the Flamels had decided it was too dangerous to keep it. Harry thought that it was odd that they would take their own lives rather that find adequate protection for the stone. _Each to their own, I suppose.._

For the next few days, Harry was visited by his parents, Al and oddly, Al's friends. They had all survived with only a few cuts and bruises after the incident with the chess pieces. Weasley challenged him to a game of chess, which lasted a whole afternoon and ended in a stalemate. Granger brought him some books from the library to keep him busy. Even Longbottom visited once, for a few minutes. He came alone in the middle of the night. Harry was awake, reading a fascinating book on something called Occlumency when he arrived.

"Longbottom." Harry acknowledged.

"Potter."

"Did you want something, or are you just here to boast about how you saved my life after I killed Quirrel?" At that, he looked affronted.

"No.. Look Potter, this is hard enough to say as it is, without you insulting me." Neville snapped. Harry raised his hands in surrender.

"OK then, spit it out."

"Thankyouforhelpingus" he mumbled.

"Speak up, I can't hear you."

"I said, thank you for helping us you stupid prat. We wouldn't have been able to get past the obstacles without you." he said, angrily. "I don't like you, you don't like me, but you did help us out and I had to thank you for it. You will tell no-one about this, I'll tell no-one about your Parseltongue," Harry gasped, "yes I did notice that, when you were hissing to You-Know-Who, and we will go back to hating each other now." With that, he walked off into the night. _Longbottom thanking me? What the hell... And he knows about my Parseltongue.. Fuck._

/\/\/\/\/\

Harry was discharged from the hospital wing a few days before the end of term. Everyone had finished their exams and were relaxing outside, taking advantage of the good weather. Harry went outside sometimes, though usually flying as an eagle. Mainly, he was inside though, using the library to find more books on Occlumency.

The book that the Granger girl gave him on it intrigued him. It would stop people from knowing what you were thinking and also helped you control your emotions through meditation. Harry thought that being able to stop himself from getting angry would be exceptionally useful. He had lost his temper at several times over the past year and each time it had ended badly for him. At the start of the year, he earned a detention with Snape by doing so. He also attacked his brother when he told on Harry. He almost trashed his dorm when he was found out about Parselmagic. Finally, he killed Quirrel-Voldemort when he heard what they did to Steph.

With Occlumency he would be able to control these emotions and channel them into something other than rash thinking.

At the end-of-year feast, it was announced that Ravenclaw won the house cup due to points earned by Harry for saving the stone.

On the train home, Harry sat in a carriage by himself again, reading more about Occlumency. He had decided, that when he got home he would master his wolf form first before concentrating on the mind arts using books that he would find in the Potter library.

/\/\/\/\/\

Godric's Hollow was quiet for the first few weeks of the holidays, with Al outside on his broom and Harry in his room. He managed his wolf form half-way through the second week. He was sitting on his bed when it happened. Like when he managed his eagle form, he willed his body to change and felt a wave of magic rush over him.

He felt several scents rush up his nose. He could smell the dinner being cooked in the kitchen. He could smell the dirty clothes under his bed. He could smell the trees and bushes from the open window. He jumped off his bed and started walking round his room. There wasn't enough room for him to properly test it, so he morphed back and walked outside.

Once he reached the forest at the edge of the village, he transformed back. He ran around the forest for about half an hour, before going back inside. He saw his mum in the kitchen, talking to a dumpy red-haired woman.

"..of-course, Ron and Neville would be welcome to come over here for a few days. Al has been ever so bored without his friends."

"That'd be great Lily, I'll bring them over tomorrow at three." The woman walked into the fireplace and flooed away. _Weasley and Longbottom here? I see enough of them during term, for god's sake, without them invading my home as well!_ Harry went up to his room and sulked for the rest of the afternoon, wandlessly conjuring vases and smashing them against a wall before vanishing the remnants.

/\/\/\/\/\

When Weasley and Longbottom arrived the next day, Harry was hiding in his room. He didn't want to see or talk to either of them. So he just sat on his bed and read the books he had taken out of the library in preparation for today. However, it didn't take long before there was a knock on his door. It was Al.

"Harry," he said excitedly. "Would you mind playing Quiddich with us, to make the teams even? I know that you're not that good, but we can't really play without you. You can use my old Nimbus 1900."

"Al," Harry replied. "If I play Quiddich with you today, do you promise not to bother me until _they _ leave?" Al nodded. "Fine then," Harry said grudgingly, getting off his bed and following his brother downstairs.

The Potters had a full size Quiddich pitch in their back garden. Ron and Neville were already down there, waiting for them.

"Right then," Al began. "Who's the best player here?" Predictably, Longbottom stepped forwards.

"OK, you get Harry then." Al threw Harry over a broom. He mounted and kicked off the ground. Once he was up in the air, he realised, for the first time how enjoyable flying was. Previously, Harry had never enjoyed flying, preferring to keep both feet firmly on the ground. But now, he felt so.. free, up in the air. It was almost as good as flying as an eagle. _Wait a second.. don't animagi gain some traits from their animals? That would explain my sudden love of flying._

When the game started, Al and Ron passed the Quaffle between each-other, slowly advancing up the field. Harry rushed up to them and intercepted a pass between the two of them and flew straight for the hoops and scored. Al and Ron got the Quaffle back and started trying the same move again. This time, Neville went to take the Quaffle off Ron. Weasley easily dodged him and Longbottom flew straight past him. Harry was left one on two, right in-front of the hoops. He knew that, if he flew towards one of them, the other would just pass to the other, who would score into an open hoop. So Harry decided to bait them into doing that, by flying quickly towards Weasley, who panicked and tried to switch it to Al, but Harry changed direction just at the last second and intercepted it. He charged towards the goals again and scored.

The game continued in the same fashion for another half-hour before Al and Ron gave up, the score 120-30. Harry scored 11 of their 12. They went into the kitchen to get something to drink and cool them down.

"Harry, how'd you get so good at Quiddich and flying?" Al queried. Harry shrugged.

"I dunno, I've never played properly before today, so I guess its just instinct." Harry replied.

"Why don't you try out for the Ravenclaw Quiddich team next year? You could probably get in" Harry thought about it. _It would be fun.. I did have more fun up there on a broom than I have had in a long time. It would also give me something to do. But.. Steph. She died on that pitch. Could I go out there and play without being constantly reminded of her?_

/\/\/\/\/\

Harry played Quiddich with Al and his friends for the next few days whenever they were playing, despite him saying earlier that he would only play once. Harry continued to dominate them, winning every game, no matter what team he was on. Once, they even tried a three on one and the game was a draw. He decided to try out for the Ravenclaw Quiddich team and asked his Dad for a new broom. Delighted that his other son had embraced Quiddich too, James said yes. They were planning to go to Diagon Alley in a few weeks with the Weasleys to get school supplies, so they would get a broom them. Harry played Weasley at chess a few times, with mixed results. He was certainly the most challenging opponent he had ever faced. Neville was arrogant as always and ignored Harry for the most part.

When the boys left, Harry was somewhat disappointed. One on one Quiddich wasn't as fun, so Harry went back to reading up on Occlumency. He was meditating every night, to clear his mind and he was making progress. He felt more relaxed most of the time and he felt like he could bring up shields and sense attacks on his mind, although they were untested currently.

After a few weeks, the day that they were due to go to Diagon Alley with the Weasleys came. Harry was excited, as his Dad promised him a Nimbus 2001 after seeing just how good he was on a broom. Even seeing Weasley wasn't that bad, as Harry and he shared a mutual respect, due to their mutual chess skill. Their Hogwarts letters had come the previous week. It was noticed that almost every book on their list was by Gilderoy Lockhart. This led to much speculation about the new DADA teacher in the house, as it was mainly witches who read Lockhart.

The entirety of the Weasley family that was still at Hogwarts came. There was Mr Weasley- a tall man with thinning red hair and an excitable air about him, Mrs Weasley- the dumpy red-haired woman he'd seen in his kitchen a month ago, Percy- sixteen years old, red-haired and bossy, Fred and George- twins, fourteen with long hair (red like the rest of the Weasleys) and major jokers, Ron- who Harry had already met and finally, the youngest, Ginny. She was a year younger than Harry, short, with long hair and freckles on her nose. She was incredibly shy, speaking only when spoken to. Longbottom came too, much to Harry's displeasure. Apparently he'd been staying with the Weasleys all summer, since his Grandmother was ill and couldn't look after a 12 year old.

They went to get new robes first, which took a long time, since there were so many of them. When Mr and Mrs Weasley took Ginny off to get her wand, Lily and James took the boys to Diagon Alley. Fred, George, Ron, Al and Longbottom all looked on in jealousy when Harry walked out of the shop with a brand new Nimbus 2001. Fred and George walked up to Harry after they left.

"Wow, Harry," One of them began,

"You know, since we've always been," the other one continued,

"such good mates,"

"would you allow us to,"

"at some point, maybe,"

"ride on your broom?" They finished together.

"Maybe, at some point." Harry said, not committing himself to anything.

After they'd gone everywhere else, they went to the bookshop, Flourish and Blotts. Unluckily, it was packed with people, as Gilderoy Lockhart was doing a book signing. When he saw Neville, he dragged him up, to have a photograph of them both taken. Lockhart then announced that he would be the new DADA professor at Hogwarts. This was met by massive applause. When Neville was finally let go, he ran back off to join the group. On the way there, he saw Draco Malfoy. Sensing a confrontation, Harry moved over to see what was happening.

"You loved that, didn't you Longbottom? The famous Neville Longbottom, Wizard Extraordinaire, The Boy who Lived, having a photo taken with Gilderoy Lockhart. Its a pity that you're none of that, you're just barely a wizard who's greatest achievement was passing first-year though." Draco said, mockingly.

"Draco, play nicely." a man who looked very much like Draco said, coming to stand beside his son. Upon seeing this man, every Potter and Weasley came to stand beside Neville. "Ah, Arthur, James, how nice to see you. I'm surprised you can afford these Arthur, with your pitiful wages," the man said mockingly, looking at the pile of second-hand books the Weasleys had bought. "After all, what's the point in being a disgrace to the Wizarding World if they don't even pay you well for it?" Arthur Weasley turned bright red.

"We have a different idea of what is a disgrace to the Wizarding World Malfoy" Arthur said, through gritted teeth.

"Clearly," the elder Malfoy said mockingly. "I personally, wouldn't keep such company, and I would certainly never marry it," he said, gesturing at Lily. James and Arthur charged at the man. It took all of the Weasley adults as well as Harry and Lily to pull them off the blond haired man.

"Here girl," he said, picking up one of Ginny's books. "If that's the best your family can do, then you'd better not damage it." He threw the book at her, then a very flustered Lucius Malfoy walked out of the shop, closely followed by Draco.

**A/N please Read and Review**


	10. Brooms and Secrets

**A/N- Sorry for the long wait, I was at a residential course all week and couldn't write anything. I'll try and do as much as I can before I go on holiday next Wednesday, as after that I won't be able to do anything until halfway through July.**

**Disclaimer- JKR owns all.**

Soon after the trip to Diagon Alley, it was time to go back to school. The Potters were running late. In Kings Cross car park, they met up with the Weasleys and the Longbottoms, who were late also. The adults went through the barrier first, followed by Percy, Ginny, Fred, George then Harry. At the other side, Harry waited for Al to come through, but no-one came through the barrier after him. _Oh well, not my problem._ There was a train whistle, and Harry rushed to get on the train quickly, stopping to say a quick goodbye to his parents. He walked into the only compartment that he could find that wasn't full. Its only occupant was Hermione Granger. She looked up from her book when he arrived, said hello, then went back to her book.

After doing a quick wandless charm, making his Occlumency book seem like a textbook, he pulled it out of his bag and started reading it. Not a word was said for several hours, as they both were fully immersed in their books. There was still no sign of Al, or his friends Weasley and Longbottom. When the train arrived at Hogsmeade Station, Harry and Hermione both got into a coach seemingly pulled by nothing.

The feast was fairly similar to the one of the previous year, aside from the fact that Harry wasn't getting sorted. Lockhart was announced as this years DADA professor. At this, the majority of the female witches in the hall swooned. Harry snorted. He had skimmed through Lockhart's books over the remainder if the summer and found several dates between the books that were crossing over. So either Lockhart was a fraud, or he was senile and didn't understand dates. There was also the fact that none of his books said anything about defensive magic, which may be a problem for all of the other students.

Al wasn't at the feast either. Neither were Longbottom and Weasley. Harry was worried and sent an owl to his Mum after dinner. He went up to his dormitory after that and went straight to bed.

/\/\/\/\/\

The next day, at breakfast, Al, Weasley and Longbottom were back. He saw the family owl, Simon approach Al at the Gryffindor table. At the same time, a very old, tired looking owl headed straight for Weasley. They were both carrying red letters, similar to the one that Harry received last year. They were Howlers.

"ALAN MICHAEL POTTER! FLYING A CAR TO HOGWARTS! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?"

"RONALD BILLIUS WEASLEY! ARE YOU INSANE? TAKING THE CAR TO HOGWARTS, YOUR FATHER IS FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK BECAUSE OF YOU!"

"YOU WERE SPOTTED BY SEVERAL MUGGLES, YOU MADE MR WEASLEY THE LAUGHING STOCK OF THE MINISTRY! IF I RECIEVE ANOTHER NOTE SAYING THAT YOU HAVE EVEN SNEEZED IN THE WRONG WAY, YOU'RE COMING STRAIGHT HOME, NEVER TO COME BACK TO HOGWARTS!"

"IF YOU PUT ONE TOE OUT OF LINE RONALD, I'M COMING UP TO HOGWARTS TO DRAG YOU HOME!"

With that, both letters burst into flames. Al and Weasley looked mortified. Harry smirked. _So that's what they were up to.. Idiots._ Harry looked at his timetable and saw that his first lesson was with Lockhart. Inwardly, Harry groaned. _This fraud will probably be worse than Quirrel._

When he reached the defence classroom, everyone was already inside. Harry took a seat at the back of the classroom. One he was seated, Lockhart came out of his office, wearing a lot of hair product and with a very fake smile on his face. After not-so-brief introductions and several pauses for applause which were ignored, Lockhart gave everyone a quiz to see how much they knew. Harry looked at the first question. _What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favourite colour?_ Harry looked through the rest of the quiz and saw that all of the questions were about the person rather than the subject. _How many vampires has Gilderoy Lockhart slain?_ Harry decided to have a bit of fun with the answers.

After everyone was finished, Lockhart took them in to mark. Once he was finished, he gave them a dull monologue.

"Tut tut.. almost none of you remembered my favourite colour. I mention it briefly in Gaddling with Ghouls. The correct answer is lilac. And no-one except Miss Granger knew that my main ambition is to rid the world of all evil and launch my own range of.." He paused briefly. "Mr Potter! What is this? My ambition is certainly not to publish other people's work as my own and marry Professor Snape! What is the meaning of this?"

"Oh sorry Professor," Harry began sarcastically. "I must have misread." Some people sniggered at this.

"Detention! My office, 8:00 tomorrow evening." Lockhart was very red faced by now and closely resembled a tomato. "Class dismissed" He stormed up to his office.

/\/\/\/\/\

Harry's day continued normally, with a few dull classes that he already knew the material for, followed by lessons with Dumbledore. Today, they were going to a small island in the middle of the ocean, on which Harry would be taught to ward, then he would be able to practice his parselmagic there, to hone his skills. He hadn't practiced it since June and he was itching to have another go with it.

Warding, as it turned out, was a very complex branch of Arithmancy, that allowed you to protect places from being seen, or stop people getting in, or stop people apparating in and out. Harry thought of it as a very complex puzzle and enjoyed it immensely. After they were finished, it was deemed safe to practice parselmagic. Harry spent the next hour doing just that. When it was time to go back to Hogwarts, he was exhausted.

/\/\/\/\/\

Harry was down at Lockhart's office at 7:55 the next evening. The door opened. Lockhart had a glowing smile on his face.

"Ah Mr Potter, you're here. That was quite the jealous stunt you pulled yesterday in my class. In order to remind you of your place, you will help me answer my fan-mail so you can see how adored I am." At this Harry laughed. Lockhart's smile faded. "Is something funny, Mr Potter?"

"No, nothing _Professor_," Harry said sardonically. Lockhart nodded unsurely and put Harry to work. After an hour or two, Harry was getting incredibly bored. The fanmail was dull and repetitive. '_Kill..I smell blood... Blood'_ Harry jumped and started looking around frantically for the source of the voice. Lockhart looked at him oddly. "Mr Potter, is something the matter?"

"You didn't hear it?"

"Hear what?"

"The voice."

"My dear boy, if there was a voice, I would've heard it, I assure you. If you're hearing voices, you must be too tired to continue. You may go now, but if you dare speak out of turn in my class again, I will not be so lenient." Harry nodded absent-mindedly and walked swiftly out of the classroom, up to Ravenclaw tower. _What the hell was that voice? Why could I hear it, but not Lockhart? I'm sure I didn't imagine it, so it must be real. It sounded as if it was coming from the walls. _He was almost at the tower now. There were others in the corridor too. _'Blood.. Dirty blood' _Harry jumped and looked around again. The few Ravenclaw students still around looked at him oddly. _Wait.. so no-one can hear the voice! Maybe its a different language. Is there a language that I can understand that no-one else can? _Then the truth hit him.

_Its a snake! There's a snake in the walls! That's how I can hear it but others can't! _ Harry walked into the common room and went straight up to his dorm. He realised that he was breathing rapidly and lay on his bed, meditating to calm himself down, emptying his mind, as the Occlumency book suggested.Soon, the meditation put him into a deep sleep.

/\/\/\/\/\

Harry heard no other voices for the rest of the week. He banished the events of that evening to the back of his mind. When Saturday came around, Ravenclaw had its Quiddich trials. There was only one position open- chaser. Harry and the five others who wanted to try out for the position were told to pass the Quaffle back and forth for a while. From this, three were rejected, as they couldn't catch the Quaffle to save themselves. The other three were each to take five shots at the keeper. The rules were simple. Whoever scored the most got into the team.

A fourth year boy went first. He scored four out of five into the Ravenclaw keeper. The captain, Joe Gordon seemed impressed with that. A pretty sixth year girl was next. She was fairly awful, scoring only one of the five shots. Finally, it was Harry's turn. He kicked off and got into position in-front of the hoops. The keeper didn't even see his first shot as it flew into the far-right hoop. The second one went similarly. Harry feinted the third and sent the keeper flying the wrong way. On the fourth, Harry shot it right at the keeper, who dove out the way, fearful of getting hit and the ball went through the middle hoop. On the final shot, Harry tried out the shot that he had been working on over the summer. He shot the ball, spinning it horizontally. The ball seemed to move slowly. The keeper smiled at the idea of such an easy shot to his right hoop. Just before the keeper grabbed it, the spin made it swerve to the left and it went through the far-right hoop. A look of surprise passed over the keeper's face. Gordon flew over to him.

"Congratulations Harry, those were some excellent shots. You're the newest Ravenclaw chaser."

/\/\/\/\/\

Over the next few weeks, Harry was beginning to enjoy school life more than ever. He had Quiddich training thrice a week. Gordon was a fair captain. He was a seventh year seeker. Harry's fellow chasers, Thomas Cole and Elizabeth Richardson were easy to get on with and Harry soon had great synergy with them on the pitch. The beaters, Mark Poonter and Anthony Roberts were quiet, but deadly with the bats in their hands. Finally, the keeper was Erin Fletcher. She was extremely sour at Harry for scoring five into her, but was the best keeper at Hogwarts by a long way. She was only a third year too. Her reflexes were better than any that Harry had ever seen. After the trials, Harry never scored into her more that half of the time. Apparently, she had a bad cold on the day of the trials and was feeling sluggish.

Their training was going well and they all were feeling exceptionally confident, with their game on the first of November. Their final training session was on Halloween, just before the feast. It left Harry feeling extremely confident about beating Hufflepuff. They apparently were the worst team out of the four.

Harry's lessons with Dumbledore were enjoyable as well. He continued to teach Harry about warding, by apparating to islands in the middle of an ocean, warding them up to make them impenetrable, and invisible. Harry would then practice using his parselmagic and decreasing the power of his spells. Slowly, but surely, he was becoming able to use his parselmagic spells at the same level as his normal spells, while still being able to cast a full power one if needed.

Harry's Occlumency was progressing well too. He had fully organised his mind into a fortress, with walls several foot thick, cannons in the towers pointing out of the window, a moat fifteen metres across and filled with sharks and a drawbridge. However, the protections were untested. He hadn't come across someone who was trying to enter his mind yet. He was half-tempted to ask Dumbledore to try it at their next lessons.

All things considered, Harry was in an very good mood as he walked down to the Halloween feast. He'd had an extremely productive few months. The feast itself was of excellent quality and Harry ate until he felt sick. He was walking up the stairs, to go back to the tower, when he heard a familiar voice at the end of the corridor.

"Its the voice, I can hear it again! Its heading up the stairs!" He heard people running towards the stairs. Harry quickly put on his cloak, wondering what Longbottom was talking about. '_Blood.. I will have blood!'_ Harry froze. _Longbottom can hear the voice too? What the fuck?_ Longbottom, Weasley, Al and Granger ran up the stairs, oblivious to Harry standing there under the cloak. Harry followed them and the voice. It led them to an abandoned corridor. There was water all over the floor. Harry looked in the water and saw a reflection of a cat. He looked up. From a suit of armour, Mrs Norris, Filch's cat, hung by its tail, stiff as a board. In a red substance that may have been blood, 'The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir, beware.' At seeing that, Harry ran away, down the corridor. Dumbledore and several other teachers passed him, followed by a large crowd of students. Harry went straight up to his dorm and sat on his bed, curtains closed, panting. Harry decided to organise the thoughts in his mind and go over them. _1. The Chamber of Secrets has been opened- What the hell is that? I'll look it up in the library tomorrow._

_Longbottom's a Parselmouth?_

**A/N- Please read and review, your reviews are what motivate me to write more and more.**


	11. Quaffles and Snakes

**A/N I'll try and get one more update out before I go on holiday, but I make no promises.**

**Disclaimer- JKR owns all**

The day after Halloween, which was a Saturday, Harry had his very first Quiddich game. He couldn't eat anything at breakfast. No matter how much his team tried to encourage him, he was so nervous that just looking at the food made him feel ill. Waiting in the changing rooms beforehand, Gordon gave a speech.

"OK team, this is it. Your chance to prove that you deserve a place on the team. Your chance to prove that Ravenclaw is the best team in Hogwarts. Your chance to prove that we are not an opponent to be taken lightly. Your chance to.."

"Gordon!" Erin Fletcher said sharply. "We get it, now move on to the next part."

"I know Hufflepuff aren't the best team, but that doesn't mean that we will take them lightly. We need to try and beat them by as many points as possible to give us the best chance for the cup. I'll just stop the other seeker from catching the snitch until we're over 200 points ahead. Poonter, Roberts, watch over Potter. He's small and will probably be targeted by bludgers. The opposition know he's new and will try and unsettle him. I want one of you on him at all times." The two beaters just nodded. "Cole, Richardson, Potter, the Hufflepuff chasers are awful. I went to see them practice. They have no imagination when it comes to tactics, their shots are weak and their passes are inaccurate. You should have no problems beating them. The problem, is their keeper. He is Hufflepuff's star player. Our Fletcher is better, but it will still take a lot to score into him. Fletcher, you know you're good, but don't get cocky. Just play safe and don't try anything fancy to please the crowd. OK, that's it, let's go." The team nodded silently, walked out onto the pitch and mounted their brooms. A loud booming voice filled the stadium. Harry wanted to vomit.

"Now, its time to announce the teams! Firstly, Ravenclaw! Chasers- Cole and Richardson, old guard from previous years and the newbie, Harry Potter!" When his name was called, he kicked into the air on his Nimbus. All nerves subsided as soon as he was in the air. "Beaters- Poonter and Roberts! The silent giants, they've been called. Keeper- Fletcher! Only a third year, she's already got herself a reputation as the best Keeper at Hogwarts. Finally, the Captain and Seeker, GORDON!" When Gordon's name was called out, the stadium was filled with cheers. Harry and his team did a lap of the pitch.

"Now, the Hufflepuffs! No changes from last year. Chasers- Applebee, Macavoy, Preece! Beaters- McManus and Rickett! Next, their excellent keeper, Fleet! Finally, the best seeker at Hogwarts, Hufflepuff's captain, DIGGORY!" When Diggory's name was called out, the cheers were louder than anything that Harry had ever heard before. They didn't actually sound like cheers, they were more like high pitched squeals from girls all around the stadium.

After the Hufflepuffs completed their lap of the pitch, the game was about to begin. Madam Hooch walked out into the centre of the pitch, holding the Quaffle.

"On my mark," she said. "Three," The chasers on both teams were poised in position. "Two," Harry gripped his broom tightly, ready to move in a moments notice. "ONE!" The Quaffle was thrown into the air. Harry sped forwards on his broom and reached it a split second before a Hufflepuff chaser. He immediately threw it behind him to Richardson.

"Potter reaches the Quaffle first, passes it back to Richardson, she flies up the pitch with it, passes it to Cole, back to Potter- and it goes through the right hoop after a deflection from Fleet! Ten-nil to Ravenclaw! Potter is definitely proving himself here today!"

The game continued rather slowly. Neither Richardson nor Cole could shoot as fast as Harry, while keeping their shots accurate. Harry had scored three more after an hour, but no-one else had scored on either team. The keepers were just too good. When it started to rain heavily, Gordon called a time out.

"OK, it's obvious that a two-hundred point lead before catching the snitch was a little ambitious. I probably can't keep Diggory off the snitch for much longer, so I'll just start searching for it now." The Snitch was nowhere to be found. Another hour passed, and Harry scored another five. The rest of Harry's team had given up on scoring, as they knew that their shots weren't accurate enough while still being fast, so they worked on setting up Harry for shots. The Hufflepuffs still hadn't scored. It was 90-0 to Ravenclaw. Harry then heard the very thing he'd been dreading.

"Diggory's seen the Snitch! He's chasing it down! There's no way that Gordon will catch him, he's on the other side of the pitch!" All of a sudden, all both bludgers were aimed at the Hufflepuff captain. Ducking expertly, he dodged them both. He dove downwards. He was only a couple of feet off the ground. Gordon was speeding towards him as fast as he could, but there was no hope. Diggory would catch it. Thinking fast, Harry threw the Quaffle at him as hard as he could. His arm was outstretched. His hand closed round the golden ball. Cheers erupted all around the stadium. Then the Quaffle hit him on the head. Diggory's broom swerved suddenly and he fell to the ground. He did a flip and landed on his arm.

"And Diggory caught the Snitch! After a terrible performance, Hufflepuff are saved by their keeper and seeker! Wait, what's this? Potter's thrown the Quaffle at him! Diggory has been hit on the head with the Quaffle! He's fallen off his broom! What a disgusting move by Ravenclaw's star chaser! Sore loser much?"

"Jordan!" Professor McGonagall's voice filled the stadium.

"Sorry Professor. To summarise, after a violent and malicious attack by Ravenclaw chaser Harry Potter, Cedric Diggory is lying on the pitch unconscious, with his arm bent in an unnatural way."

"JORDAN!"

As soon as he saw what happened, Harry flew straight into the changing room, dropped his broom on the ground and ran into a shower cubicle and closed the door, tears brimming in his eyes. He stood there, fully clothed in his Quiddich robes, in the shower letting the hot water wash over his back, crying for what seemed like a year, before he heard a knock on the door.

"Harry?" It was Fletcher. "Harry, come out. We need to have a team meeting," she said softly.

"Go away!" Harry said angrily, tears running down his face. "I don't want to talk to anyone right now! Anyway, you're a girl, what are you doing in the boy's shower room."

"No-one else was brave enough to talk to you. You looked horrible when you flew back inside. The longer you stay in there, the worse it will be when you have to face it. You made a bad split-second decision, trying to save us the game. It's not the end of the world, Diggory will be fixed up by tomorrow and if you apologise to him and explain your actions, you might not even be punished."

"I'm not scared of punishment, or of what the rest of the school will do!"

"What is it then, that's stopping you from coming out?"

"Do you remember last year, when the girl got thrown from her broom in flying lessons? That girl was my best friend. I was there. Seeing someone else get thrown off their broom brought back memories. Knowing that I caused it, was even worse. It was just too much." He started sobbing again.

"Well, I'll leave the room so you can get changed, but naked or not, in two minutes I'm coming back in." Harry heard her walk out. Reluctantly, he got changed into normal clothes and came out two minutes later, eyes red. The rest of his team was waiting for him, still in Quiddich uniform. Gordon decided to give another speech.

"Well, we didn't expect that. Hufflepuff are completely awful, except from their keeper and seeker, who are practically gods. Fleet has improved loads since last year, he's as good as you now, Fletcher." at this, Fletcher narrowed her eyes. "However, it was completely my fault we lost that, I wasn't tailing their seeker as I was supposed to. Potter, excellent job out there, I doubt any other single player this year will score nine into Fleet. As for the..incident at the end, it was just unlucky. Yes, you probably shouldn't have done it, but in the heat of the moment, these things happen. There will be some Hufflepuffs wanting your head, but Diggory won't be one of them. If you apologise, you can minimise the possible damage. Can you handle yourself? Or should I get Poonter and Roberts to escort you too and from class?"

"I'll be fine," Harry mumbled, looking down.

"OK, but don't get yourself injured. Chin up Potter, you were the best player on the field today, you'll smash Gryffindor and Slytherin." With that, he went to get changed and the rest of the team followed him.

/\/\/\/\/\

All afternoon, Harry had endured glares from every Hufflepuff he passed, as well as quite a few Gryffindors and Slytherins. They all believed that he was just angry that he lost and threw the Quaffle at Diggory in rage. He had gone from being ignored by most, to being hated. Harry went to see him later that evening, to apologise. When he arrived Diggory was lying in a bed, surrounded by his fellow team-mates. He seemed to have woken up and was laughing and joking with them. Harry was quickly spotted and his team-mates formed a protective arc around his bed, with Fleet in the centre.

"What do you want Potter," he said venomously. "Come here to injure another one of our players?"

"No, I was wondering if I could talk to Diggory?" Harry asked weakly. Fleet looked physically affronted.

"So you can hurt him again? No, I don't think so Pott.."

"Fleet!" A voice came from within the bed. "It's OK, can you all go away so we can talk?" After a special glare from each and every member of the Quiddich team as they passed him, it was just Harry and Diggory left. He had his arm in a sling and an obvious lump on the side of his head.

"So," Harry began, half jokingly. "How badly did I hurt you?"

"Not too bad," Diggory replied. He didn't sound angry. "A concussion and a broken arm. I should be allowed to leave tomorrow and I'll be able to go back to class in a week." _That sounds worse than expected.. And in his OWL year as well.._

"I came over to apologise and explain my actions." Harry paused. Diggory motioned for him to continue. "It was a hard fought game and your keeper was excellent. We struggled to get the Quaffle past him at all. We worked hard for two hours to get that lead. When I saw that you were going to get the snitch, I did the first thing that came into my head, which was throw the Quaffle at you to try and distract you. Then you caught the Snitch. Then you got hit by the Quaffle. So, at the time, I kind of did mean to hit you at the time, but not cause any harm?" Diggory laughed.

"Well, at least you're honest. Getting injured is part of Quiddich. When you agree to play, you accept that. I'll have a work with my house-mates when I get out tomorrow and I'll tell them not to bother you."

/\/\/\/\/\

With all the commotion regarding the Quiddich game, Harry had forgotten completely about the chamber of secrets and the events surrounding it. When it emerged the day after the game that a student had been petrified, shock ran through the walls of Hogwarts. Apparently, it had happened around the time that Harry was walking back to his dorm. The victim- Colin Creevey, an annoying first-year that followed Longbottom around. This got Harry right back on topic. He needed to find out what the chamber of secrets was and he should probably talk to Longbottom about his Parselmouth abilities.

He decided to visit the library, as the next day was a Sunday and Harry had nothing better to do. Unfortunately, there was nothing in the regular section of the library about such a chamber, so he resolved to sneak into the restricted section that evening. In the afternoon, about an hour before dinner, Harry spotted Longbottom walking along the corridor by himself, heading out towards the grounds.

"Longbottom!" Harry called. He turned around, looking annoyed.

"What do you want Potter?" he said, annoyed.

"I was wondering if we could talk." Longbottom gave him a look.

"We are talking."

"Somewhere we're a little less likely to be overheard," said Harry, exasperated. "Trust me, you don't want anyone to overhear what I'm going to tell you." They walked into the first abandoned classroom they found.

"So, what is it you wanted to talk to me about?" asked Longbottom, bored.

"Have you, by any chance been hearing voices in the walls?" Longbottom looked surprised. "Perhaps voices saying malicious things, such as 'kill' and 'blood'?"

"How do you..?"

"Does it matter? I know why. You're a Parselmouth and those are snakes in the walls." Longbottom looked insulted.

"Me? A Parselmouth? Impossible! Only dark wizards are Parselmouths! Prove it!" Longbottom was going very red in the face. Harry obliged his request and pulled out his wand and conjured an eight foot long python. Longbottom jumped backwards when he saw it appear. Then the snake spoke to him.

" Do not be afraid, little one. I mean you no harm. " Longbottom looked at Harry, looking confused and worried simultaneously.

" Why is it talking to me? And why can I understand it? " He jumped when the snake answered him directly.

" You have the gift. You can communicate with us, the most noble of animals. You are lucky. "Harry then vanished the snake.

"Believe me now? I just thought you should know" Harry asked. Longbottom was no longer red and had gone pale. He nodded. "Right, unless there is anything else you wish to discuss with me.." Harry said, moving towards the door.

"There is." Longbottom blurted out.

"What?"

"There is something else I wish to discuss with you." Harry took his hand off the doorknob.

"OK, what is it then?"

"It's Al."

"Al?"

"Al. He's been more distant since we came back to school. He disappears for hours at a time. He gets angry when we ask him where he's been. He always seems to have this book with him. He reads it in bed. One time, I tried to look at it and he was more angry than I'd ever seen him before. His grades have been dropping. I'm worried about him. Ron and Hermione are too." _That doesn't sound like the Al I know, that wouldn't touch a book with a hot iron poker. Al rarely gets angry too, unless he's jealous._

"You know him better than I do. Should I write home, try and talk to him, or give him a chance to work himself out of his funk?" Neville thought about it for a second.

"Give him a chance. If he's still like this in a few weeks, I'll let you know." Longbottom walked past Harry out of the room, leaving Harry alone in his thoughts. _What the hell? The world's gone mad. Longbottom's a Parselmouth, Al's becoming an irritable bookworm and there's something dodgy going on at Hogwarts with a 'Chamber of Secrets'? And there are snakes in the walls?_ Sighing, Harry left the classroom and decided to go for a very long walk.

**A/N I know what you're thinking. You may or may not be right. That's all I will say at the moment.**


	12. Parsels and Prisons

**A/N Here it is. Please Read and Review. **

**Disclaimer- JKR owns all**

The weeks passed and winter was approaching. Harry had no luck looking in the restricted section for books about the chamber of secrets. However, the problem was solved in History of Magic one Monday, where Al's friend Granger asked Binns about it. Apparently Salazar Slytherin hid a monster in a chamber to rid the school of muggle-borns. His heir could open the chamber and control the monster.

Harry hadn't been physically attacked by the Hufflepuffs for the attack on their seeker, but he had to put up with glares and insults. The mutterings of "cheat" and "sore loser" followed him everywhere he went. He ignored them, but they were slowly getting to him. He was sorely tempted to start going to and from class under the invisibility cloak.

Fletcher asked Harry to come out and throw shots into her every day, as she was worried about Fleet being a better keeper than her. The sessions were fairly relaxed, as it was just shooting, no laps of the pitch or physical training.

According to Longbottom, Al's condition hadn't improved. If anything, it was worse than before. He only appeared now for classes and meals, the rest of the time he was mysteriously absent. Harry tried to confront him about it, but Al walked away from him without saying a word. He had dark shadows under his eyes, which seemed cold and hard, rather than their usual warmth. He was planning to get his parents involved over Christmas, but he received a letter from them towards the end of November.

_Harry,_

_ Your Mother has a mild case of Dragon Pox. Being Muggle-born, she didn't get it as a child. Its nothing to be worried about, she'll make a full recovery, but we have decided that its not worth the risk of you and Al being infected. You'll stay at Hogwarts over Christmas. _

_ Love Dad_

Harry had thought lots about the Chamber of Secrets and the monster in it. He found it curious that Slytherin's coat of arms was a snake and around the time that Harry started hearing snakes in the wall, the Chamber was opened. However, there had been no other attacks since Creevey, so Harry pushed it to the back of his mind.

In the middle of December, Lockhart announced a duelling club. Harry decided to go along, despite his dislike of Lockhart, as he thought it would be funny to see Lockhart try and teach actual magic, instead of scenes from his books. When he arrived, he stood at the back by himself. Lockhart arrived five minutes late with Snape in tow.

"May I introduce you to my assistant, Professor Snape!" he said dramatically. "Don't worry, you'll still have your potions master when I'm through with him." Snape looked murderous, but Lockhart didn't notice. They showed the crowd proper duelling etiquette, then Snape disposed of Lockhart with a simple expelliarmus. After this, Lockhart didn't want to draw any attention to his own duelling skill and he split them up into pairs. Harry was with Justin Finch-Fletchley. He inwardly groaned. Finch-Fletchley was one of the more vocal of the Hufflepuffs that hated him.

"Justin," Harry acknowledged, as his second name was too long. Justin glared at him.

"Potter," he spat. "Going to knock me out, like you did with Diggory?" _OK, he's pissing me off now, lets mess with him._ Harry bowed to him, Justin did the same.

"Maybe," Harry shrugged. "Or maybe I'll do worse," His voice was barely above a whisper and only Justin heard him. The Hufflepuff's eyes widened for a second, then when he realised Harry was taking the piss, they narrowed again.

"You'll be sorry Potter, Expelliarmus!" Justin snarled. Without even moving his wand, Harry used a non-verbal wandless shield charm. The red light bounced harmlessly off his shield. Justin looked slightly shocked and scared. Harry laughed.

"My turn," he said. He was just about to cast the spell, when he heard Lockhart's voice telling everyone to stop.

"I need two volunteers, to come up and demonstrate for the group. Professor Snape, who do you think it should be?" Snape gave a cold smile.

"Let's see.. how about Malfoy, and the Ravenclaw Potter." Harry walked up to the duelling platform. He decided, since he didn't mind Malfoy, as he helped Harry piss off Longbottom occasionally, to go easy on him. They talked to the centre of the platform and bowed.

"I'll wipe the floor with you Potter," Malfoy smirked.

"We'll see," Harry replied nonchalantly. He briefly heard Lockhart shouting, "Disarming charms and stunners only!" _Not likely, with Malfoy._ "GO!" Harry put up his shield and waited for the Slytherin to make the first move.

"Serpensortia!" Malfoy shouted. A ten foot long green snake, with fangs the size of human hands appeared from Malfoy's wand. Someone screamed. As soon as it landed, it immediately started moving towards a boy in the front row of the crowd. It was Justin Finch-Fletchley. _Oh hell, its going to attack him._

" Wait! " Harry said. The hall was suddenly silent. Everyone looked at Harry. " Leave him! " The snake ignored him and continued to slither towards Justin, who was alternating between looking at Harry in fear and looking at the snake in fear. " LEAVE THE BOY! " Harry shrieked in Parseltongue. Snape walked out in front of Malfoy and vanished the snake, just as it was about to strike Justin. Now all eyes were on Harry. Most people backed away from him slowly. Even Snape looked at him with concern. Lockhart had actually jumped backwards off the platform.

"Come with me Potter, we're going to see the Headmaster," Snape said, while keeping his distance, as if he was afraid of Harry. _Well, everyone knows I'm a Parselmouth now, I wonder if they think I'm responsible for the Chamber of Secrets as well, as Slytherin was a Parselmouth, so why wouldn't his heir be one too?_

They reached the Headmaster's office and after Snape gave him a brief explanation of what happened, Harry was left in the room with the Headmaster. He looked at Harry and smiled sadly. _He doesn't actually think I opened the Chamber, does he?_

"Oh Harry, what have you done? I don't know what to think. On one hand, the Harry I know would never harm muggle-borns, as his mother is one. But on the other hand, the Harry I know wouldn't have got a snake to attack a boy who annoyed him." _He actually does?_

"Firstly, I told the snake not to attack Justin, but it didn't listen. Secondly, I didn't open the chamber and I have no idea who did! Why don't you believe me?" Harry said angrily. Dumbledore didn't even flinch.

"Harry, what am I supposed to do? The heir of Slytherin is a Parselmouth and you just displayed your abilities to the entire school very publicly. Since the start of term, you have developed very strong Occlumency shields, which are able to keep me out. Why would you do that unless you have something to hide?" Dumbledore said.

"Hang on.." Harry said slowly. "Are you saying, that you used legilimency on me last year?" Dumbledore offered no response, other than another sad smile. Harry walked out of the office, shaking with anger. Unbeknownst to him, the pictures in Dumbledore's office were also shaking, as were the chairs and tables.

/\/\/\/\/\

Harry wandered the corridors for hours on end, furious. _I trusted that man! I told him about my abilities and he raped my mind! He's a.. a poohead! _Harry didn't care how stupid the insult was, no-one else was going to hear it. He was walking along the seventh floor. _I need to get rid of all this anger before I can do anything and the best way to do that is Parselmagic. I need to find some place to practice it, or I may end up releasing the anger involuntarily. _A door appeared in-front of Harry, quite suddenly. Momentarily, he forgot his anger as curiosity got the better of him. He walked into the room. It was a small room, with dark, plain walls and lit up by a single candle in the centre of the room. _I wonder what this room does.._ Harry looked at one of the walls. It had one noticeboard on it, with one piece of parchment on it, which had one sentence on it.

_This room will allow you to practice your parselmagic without it escaping._

Immediately, Harry started firing off spells, conjuring objects before blasting them to oblivion. He even conjured some to look like Dumbledore. This was the best feeling Harry'd had in a long time, feeling the overwhelming magic flowing through his veins. The power washed over him, as he smashed a desk to bits. After a while, he started feeling tired and, as if the room could sense what he wanted, a bed appeared. It looked extremely comfortable. Harry fell straight into it and went to sleep.

/\/\/\/\/\

Harry woke up, in an extremely comfortable feather bed, feeling entirely relaxed. Then he opened his eyes. He screamed. _Where the hell am I?_ After a few seconds, it all came back to him. _The duelling club. Dumbledore. Letting my magic out_. Harry decided that he needed to go back to his dormitory now, as people were likely panicking now, as the supposed 'heir of Slytherin' was missing. He walked out of the room and immediately bumped into Professor McGonagall. She jumped back in shock and looked at him_ with fear in her eyes_? She pulled out her wand as fast as she could.

"Mr Potter!" she said, not sounding at all like her usual stern self. "Come with me, now! We're going to see the headmaster!"

"No!" McGonagall jumped when he spoke. "I spoke to Dumbledore yesterday and I'm too angry to do so again."

"Yesterday? Mr Potter, you've been missing for two weeks." McGonagall said, sounding confused. _Two weeks? I slept for two weeks? Maybe I shouldn't use parselmagic for a while.. _They stood there, staring each other down for a few minutes. McGonagall's eyes never left Harry.

"Professor? Why do you look so scared of me?" Harry said. In his own head, as he spoke he put the pieces together in his head. "There's been another attack, hasn't there?" McGonagall only nodded. "Who?"

"Justin Finch-Fletchley" she said. Harry swore. _I'm looking less innocent by the minute.._

"OK Professor, I'll come with you, but not to see Dumbledore. I'll see anyone else but him." Harry said.

"Aurors." McGonagall said.

"Aurors? They're going to arrest me?" Harry said, worried. McGonagall nodded. _Wow. I'm a Parselmouth, I supposedly set a snake after a boy, I stormed out of Dumbledore's office after being accused of opening the Chamber, then I go missing and a boy who I have a known dislike of is attacked. The evidence doesn't exactly point in my favour, even I would arrest me based on that evidence. Even so.. the idea of Azkaban makes me shiver on its own. I could just stun McGonagall and leave, but that would just delay the inevitable. I can't apparate, so I would need to go out the front gate. Which would be incredibly risky. Even once I was out, where would I go? I would be reported missing, there would be posters of me everywhere and the aurors would go looking for me. No, it's probably best to go with them and win my trial. Remember, I didn't do anything wrong. I wish I could see my parents first though, so I could tell them that it was all lies._

"I need your wand Mr Potter," she said timidly. Reluctantly, Harry handed over his wand, knowing that his magic was just as good without a wand. McGonagall knew that as well, but the wand made her feel safe. They walked downstairs to her office, where he was magically bound to a chair. Once again, Harry knew that he could easily escape, but if it made McGonagall feel safe then so be it. She called the aurors, who came almost immediately. She then left the office, as she seemed too scared of Harry to be in the same room. Harry couldn't understand it. She obviously faced death eaters before, so why would she be scared of a twelve year old boy? Unluckily, his father wasn't one of the aurors. There were two of them there, Dawlish and Robards. Dawlish was a big man, with short brown hair. Robards was slightly smaller with jet black hair, but no less intimidating.

"So this is the boy that was attacking the muggle-borns? He doesn't exactly look like much," Dawlish said, looking down over Harry. Harry decided he didn't like the big man and wanted to antagonise him.

"You should know more than most, auror, that size has no correlation with magical power" Harry said sardonically. Dawlish whipped out his wand.

"Why you little.." He sent a stinging hex at Harry. Harry just used a wandless shield charm to send it right back at him. It hit him in the abdomen and he doubled over in pain.

"I may be coming with you in chains aurors, but make no mistake, I could be out of these in a moment if I wanted to, but I need to prove my innocence in a trial. You will not attack me, or touch me in any way, shape or form. You will escort me to prison, then leave me be. If I am touched, I will incapacitate both of you, before escaping. Do I make myself clear?" The two aurors looked at him incredulously. Robards stepped forwards.

"You got lucky with him and somehow stopped the jinx. But it was a fluke. You are not in a position of power, boy. Learn your place." he growled, his face inches from Harry's. Harry smiled back at him. He levitated Robards into the air, so he was hovering a few metres above Harry. Harry then summoned Robards' wand, while forcing Dawlish backwards with a shield.

"I know my place, but the question is, do you know yours? If I let you go and give you your wand back, will you agree to my terms so we can get this farce of an arrest over with?" Harry said tiredly. After holding them in place for a full minute, they accepted defeat and Harry let them go. They apparated him to Azkaban and escorted him to a cell in the centre of the island. This was where all of the maximum security prisoners were held- Bellatrix Lestrange, Sirius Black, Antonin Dolohov and many more. Now it included Harry too.

As soon as the aurors left, Harry conjured a Patronus, the latest piece of magic he'd learnt with Dumbledore, to allow him to think properly. _How do I survive this? The aurors didn't specify a date for my trial, so I could be in here for quite a while. I can't keep a patronus up for that long, so I need another way to survive. I wonder if dementors affect animals? _Harry transformed into his black wolf and waited for the patronus to go away, so he could test the effects dementors had on him. _My face will be on the front page of the newspaper tomorrow. I'll be branded as a pure-blood extremist who hates muggle-borns. I hope McGonagall told my parents so that they can prepare themselves for the news. Mum was probably pulling her hair out when Dumbledore told her I was missing and charged with the opening of the chamber of secrets. Dad.. Dad'll be up at the ministry right now, demanding Fudge release me. _The patronus subsided and Harry was left in his dark cell. Harry drifted off to sleep...

/\/\/\/\/\

Crunch! Harry woke up with a start. He'd just had a dream about Steph's death, something which he hadn't had since he began second year. In his head, Harry kept replaying the moment, seeing her body hit the ground, hearing her scream. _There's no way I can live with this. I need to get out. I need to get out NOW. _In wolf form, he charged at the bars and tried to break through them. This was to no avail, but when his head got stuck in the bars, it gave him an idea. _Could I get through the bars in eagle form?_ Harry quickly transformed and slowly sidestepped through the bars.

After an hour of torture, listening to Steph's scream over and over, he was through. He waddled down the corridor, as it was too low to fly. He passed the cell of Sirius Black, which seemed to be occupied by a black dog instead of Voldemort's second in command. He passed the cell of Bellatrix Lestrange, she was yanking against the bars that held her to the wall, sreaming. He passed the cell of Antonin Dolohov, and something snapped. This was one of the men who attacked his parents. Harry had done a small amount of involuntary magic, as one of the bars in Dolohov's cell was now snapped in two. The man didn't seem to notice, he kept staring into the distance, muttering under his breath.

He reached the end of the corridor. There was no door, as there were warming charms on the cells to keep the prisoners from getting hypothermia. Harry walked out, feeling the cold night air on his face. He spread his wings and flew away, free.. _Where do I go now?_

**A/N If I'm really quick, I'll squeeze in one more update, before I go on holiday on Wednesday, but no promises. What do you think about Harry going to prison? What do you think about his escape? What do you think should happen next?**


	13. Returns and Reactions

**A/N- I'm back!**

**Disclaimer- JKR owns all**

**Daily Prophet**

_**Thursday, 19th December**_

_**POTTER BOY CHARGED WITH ATTACKS ON MUGGLEBORN STUDENTS AT HOGWARTS**_

_**By Rita Skeeter**_

_ Many disturbing rumours have been reaching the ear of the public lately about happenings at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where certain incidents involving the injury of muggleborn students have occurred. Aurors, late last night confirmed that a culprit had been apprehended and sent to Azkaban, awaiting trial. One can imagine my surprise when the accused was revealed to be Harry Potter, twelve year old son of respected auror James Potter and Lily Potter. It was revealed by sources inside the school that Potter is a Parselmouth. How the son of one of the staunchest fighters in the war against He Who Must Not Be Named can possess a gift commonly perceived as the mark of a dark wizard, few will ever know._

_ The events surrounding his apprehension are unclear, but according to unconfirmed sources, Potter had an argument with a boy during a session of the Hogwarts duelling club last Saturday. He then summoned a snake and told it to attack, using his Parseltongue abilities. This failed and Mr Potter was taken up to see the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. For unknown reasons, Mr Potter soon stormed out of Dumbledore's office and promptly disappeared. That night, the boy who Potter argued with turned up in the Hospital Wing, petrified! Mr Potter turned up in the castle again on Wednesday evening and was soon chained up and taken to Azkaban, where he currently resides._

_ Most odd about Mr Potter's actions are his motives. Why would a boy, with loving parents, one of whom is muggleborn, the other being one of the oldest supporters of Albus Dumbledore, want to attack muggleborns? This author believes that things may not have been as happy as they seemed in the Potter household. Perhaps the boy was driven to hate muggleborns by cruel actions from his mother? Perhaps her cruel actions led his to believe all muggle-borns were such beasts._

_ According to sources inside the school, Mr Potter excelled in class (although he may have used dark magic as a means to reach that end) and was a solitary figure in Ravenclaw house. The person with whom Potter spoke the most was none other than the Boy Who Lived, Neville Longbottom! Potter would argue with the boy frequently. Of-course, now that Potter has shown his true colours, the reason for his dislike can probably be put down to Neville's actions as a baby, getting rid of He Who Must Not Be Named,whom Potter would've regarded a powerful ally..._

Lily screamed and ripped the paper up into shreds. Once it was in enough pieces, she slumped onto the sofa and started sobbing. _Harry.. There's no way that he did it. He was framed. And now he's in Azkaban_. The very thought of Harry in Azkaban made her want to throw up. She had no doubt as to what Harry's worst memory would be. _He hasn't been the same since she died. Before he went to Hogwarts, he was quiet, but he wouldn't lock himself up in his room all day like he had been doing ever since. I thought.. maybe he was improving after the summer, most of which he spent playing Quiddich with Al._ It was then that Lily realised that she barely knew Harry any more. He didn't talk about his troubles, preferring to keep them locked up, where no-one could reach them. Even over the summer, she now noticed that her conversations with him barely extended beyond basic small talk. _The Harry I knew couldn't have done such awful things, but I don't really know him. Could he have done it? He did go missing just after he was suspected and he's a Parselmouth and.. _She stopped her train of thought before it went any further. _No! I can't think like that! He didn't do it, and I know he didn't! My son would never. _She wanted to go and see him, to tell him that it would be alright and he would get through the trial, but she had dragonpox and wasn't allowed to leave the house. Azkaban usually didn't allow visits to prisoners anyway, but as a high ranking auror, tipped to be the next head of the auror office, an exception was made for James. He was on his way to see Harry now.

She heard the door click. Lily looked at the grandfather clock against the wall. James wasn't due back for another hour. _Who could it be? James always lets me know when he's home. _Even though she knew that the wards around the cottage wouldn't allow anyone with malicious intent to enter it, she was still wary after the death eater attack ten years ago. She whipped out her wand and slowly walked towards the main hall. She heard footsteps. She could feel her heartbeat as she jumped round the door, into the hall.

"Stupe.. James?" Her husband was sitting on the floor, back against the wall, staring stupidly into space.

"What is it?" she said worriedly. _What happened with Harry, to get him into this state?_ James turned round and looked at her blankly.

"I saw Sirius. He was in the same cell block as Harry. He saw me too. He seemed completely sane compared to the rest of the prisoners in there. No screaming, yanking against the chains, no nothing. He just sat there. But he said one thing. "James! Please! It was Peter! He was the spy! He killed Moony! I was just a false trail!" I dunno, he's probably just insane.. but it makes me wonder.."

_Peter? Based on personality, that seems much more likely than Sirius. He was quiet, but timid and would be easy to turn. Sirius seemed loyal to a fault and was James' best friend. _Lily had nothing to say, so she changed the subject. "And what about Harry? How's he doing? Does he need anything?" Now James started laughing.

"I always knew he was a prankster at heart.." Now Lily was worried. _What's he done now? Playing jokes in prison won't help him at all in his trial._

"James, is it good or bad news?" she said apprehensively. He thought about it for a few seconds.

"That depends on your point of view," he said, with a grin on his face. Lily was losing her patience now.

"James! What has Harry done!" she shouted. Once again, James was laughing manically.

"He.. he escaped!" James managed, before doubling over again. _Holy God.. Harry escaped from Azkaban? No-one has ever done that before! But.. why would he escape unless he was guilty? And how did he manage it? At least he's free now.. but it'll be almost impossible to prove his innocence now._ Lily silently walked back over to the sofa and threw herself on it and started sobbing again.

/\/\/\/\/\

The castle's dark silhouette was a striking image in-front of the sunrise. The tall towers, the gates, the courtyard, even the greenhouses were all clearly outlined. _What do I do when I get there? I can't show myself, or I'll get thrown back into Azkaban. But I do need to stay nearby, to try and figure out who is responsible for the attacks so I can prove my innocence. I need to get my wand, before they snap it. I want the cloak as well, so I can travel around the castle completely undetected. Flying down corridors as a bird, or pouncing down as a wolf is bound to draw some attention..I doubt anyone's up yet, so I'll wait until after classes start so my dorm is empty, then just fly through the window and pick up the cloak. McGonagall has my wand, so it might be more difficult to get that, but she probably doesn't have any wards on her door and I should be able to sneak in and take it. I could probably live in the forbidden forest as a wolf when I'm not sneaking in and out the castle._

He was now only a few hundred metres from the castle. All of a sudden, his exhaustion caught up with him and he felt the need to rest. Luckily, there was a window ledge just below him. He swooped down and landed on it. He gave out a squawk of relief. The warmth coming from the castle was soothing on his feathers. He turned to face the window and saw twinkling bespectacled blue eyes looking back at him, with surprise. Harry gave another loud squawk, this time of surprise and fell backwards off the ledge. He fell for almost 100 feet before he regained control and went into a swooping dive. He landed on top of Hagrid's hut, scaring off several pigeons in the process. _That was too close. He looked like he recognised me._ Harry shook his beak and rationalized his thought. _There's no way he could tell. I look like a bird, remember?_

/\/\/\/\/\

Albus Dumbledore had just been given the fright of his life. He'd had difficulty sleeping after the distressing news that Minerva gave him the night before. She'd found Harry wandering the corridor and tried to take him to see Dumbledore. He refused, so the aurors came and arrested him. He was residing in Azkaban prison. _And deservedly so!_ Dumbledore thought half heartedly. As much as he didn't want to believe that Harry was the one responsible, all the evidence pointed in that direction.

He was the only known parselmouth in the school, which already made him the most likely candidate for the heir of Slytherin. Then there was the run in with the Finch-Fletchley boy, that resulted in the boy being petrified. There was also the fact that he was hiding something. Why else would he study Occlumency. Dumbledore had been unable to see into his mind since before the summer.

As much as he hated using Legilimency on students, sometimes it was necessary, to see if they were dangerous. After the events of last January, where Harry almost blinded half of the school, he felt it was necessary to see whether or not Harry was going dark. The fact that he was also one of the two candidates for the one prophesised to destroy Voldemort made it even more imperative that he wasn't dark. The results came back as a resounding no, but Dumbledore kept checking to make sure. When he found out in September that he could no longer check, he became worried. When the chamber was opened, he began to suspect the boy. When he lost his temper and set a snake on the Finch-Fletchley boy, it was almost certain. When he disappeared and the Hufflepuff turned up petrified, there was no longer any doubt in his mind.

A bird approached his window and landed on it, seeming exhausted. That wasn't abnormal, but the type of bird was. It was a bald eagle. There were no bald eagles out of North America, which made this even more curious. Dumbledore stood up and walked over to the window, staring at the bird. It was facing away from him. Once Dumbledore was right in front of the window, the bird turned around. It had bright green eyes! No bird has eyes that colour. However, the oddness of the eyes wasn't what disturbed him. It was the familiarity which caught him off guard. Those eyes only belonged to one person that Dumbledore had ever spoken to- Harry Potter. Unnerved, he took off his glasses and gave them a good polish before putting them back on and looking again. The bird had gone.. _Am I going senile? Am I too old for this job? There's no way that could be Harry, it was a bird! He could be an animagus.. If anyone could do it, it'd be Harry.. But Harry's in Azkaban! No-one has ever, or will ever escape there! _Dumbledore tried to get back to his work, but he couldn't stop thinking about the bird.

When it was approaching nine o'clock, (He wasn't hungry enough to go down for breakfast) Minister Cornelius Fudge's face appeared in the fire, looking apprehensive. Putting on a happy façade, Dumbledore said, "Ah Cornelius, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"It's Potter," he said. "He's done the impossible." Dumbledore tried to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach. "He's escaped from Azkaban."

**A/N Please read and review. Also, tell me whether you prefer short updates of ~2000 words often, or larger ~5000 word updates less often. **


	14. Wanted

**Disclaimer- JKR owns all**

Neville Longbottom didn't know what to think when he heard that the older Potter was arrested and charged with petrifying the muggleborns. Al's brother didn't seem the sort to want to kill muggleborns. He was an arrogant knob, but not a blood purist. There was the small matter of his parseltongue ability, but Neville had it as well, so he could hardly use that as evidence against the boy. He had even less idea what to think when Potter escaped. It was baffling that a twelve year old could be sent to Azkaban, let alone escape..

When Neville read aloud the paper, detailing the arrest that morning, for Al, Ron and Hermione to hear, Al didn't seem bothered at all. He wasn't troubled, that his brother was sent to Azkaban? That seemed slightly worrying to Neville. Recently, Al had been more distant towards the other three, he always made excuses whenever they were all going to do something together. He was also quicker to lose his temper and carried around that blasted book with him all the time. One time, Hermione had tried to take it from him, to see what it was and he got so angry that stormed off and didn't talk to them for several days. At the beginning of the year, he seemed normal, but it had gradually worse, to the point that he only spoke when spoken to and often disappeared. It was just after dinner and Neville, Ron and Hermione were going back up to the common room.

"No Ron, he wouldn't have escaped unless he was guilty!" Hermione said, exasperatedly. In the Evening Prophet, news that Harry had escaped was released. Al had ran off. They had given up trying to find him, it never worked.

"I'm telling you, he didn't do it! He's not the sort!" Ron countered. "OK, he's shy and doesn't talk to others too much and he's the best in the year, but he's normal beneath all that! When we played Quiddich with his this summer, did he seem like a psychopath to you Neville?"

"No, not really," Neville said thoughtfully.

"But if he is as skilled as he says he is, then he could hide it. Also, what about talking to snakes? Doesn't that mark him out as related to Slytherin? And the Quiddich incident where he threw the ball at Diggory and knocked him off his broom? If that doesn't mark him out as dangerous, I don't know what does." Hermione persisted.

"Firstly, he's a _Ravenclaw_. How could a Ravenclaw be Slytherin's heir? As for the Quiddich incident, it was a spur of the moment mistake! You can't blame him for that." Ron said.

"What about being a parselmouth then? That's the sign of a dark wizard." Hermione said.

"That doesn't make you necessarily dark," Neville interrupted.

"No? What makes you say that?" Hermione said. Her and Ron both looked at him.

"Because I'm one." Ron's jaw dropped. Hermione raised her eyebrows.

"Very funny Neville."

"No, really, I can prove it! Summon a snake!" he said. She pulled out her wand and a small white snake slithered out the end of her wand and down the wall, onto the ground.

"_Hello, Snake. My name is Neville, how do you do?_" Hermione's jaw now dropped too. The snake looked up at Neville, apparently surprised.

"_You speak it?_" Neville nodded. The snake was banished by Hermione.

"Neville..I..." _Blood.. I need blood. Kill.._

"Follow me!" Neville shouted. Ron and Hermione stood there, flabbergasted.

"Come on!" They shrugged their shoulders and followed him. _Filthy blood.._ They turned down another corridor. Neville saw it first. Keeled over on the floor, rigid as steel was their dorm-mate, Dean Thomas. Above him, in red paint, 'REVENGE' was written.

Neville ran towards the boy. "Dean!" Hermione and Ron came around the corner a second later. Hermione gasped when she saw the body. Ron's eyes widened.

"Bloody Hell.."

/\/\/\/\/\

Harry was in the forbidden forest setting up a den for himself. He had created a small shelter from the rain. He could use warming charms to keep himself warm. He'd sneaked up to McGonagall's office earlier that day to collect his wand, then his dorm to collect his invisibility cloak and several changes of clothes. The only thing he didn't have, was food.

If it came down to it, he could turn into a wolf and hunt for his prey, but Harry wasn't exactly comfortable with that idea. He decided that he would sneak into the castle and get food that way.

He arrived in the Great Hall under just as the evening post arrived. He walked over to the nearest table, which happened to be the Hufflepuff one and summoned some potatoes. He shoved them under his cloak immediately, hoping that no-one noticed. He was just about to leave, when someone opened up their Evening Prophet.

"He's escaped! Potter's escaped Azkaban!" The shouting began immediately. Harry saw his brother stand up and leave. Harry wanted to follow him, to talk to him, but there were too many people in the way. Everyone was standing up now. He could only leave by the exit behind him, if he really wanted to get out, which led back outside. He went outside, back to his den, ate the food as quickly as he could, put up charms repelling dangerous beasts and went to sleep on a conjured bed.

/\/\/\/\/\

Over the next few days, up until the Christmas holidays, Harry went up to the castle in the morning for breakfast, then searched for anything that would help him discover the true heir. He overheard conversations about more petrifications over the past few nights, all with the word 'REVENGE' painted above the bodies. This only seemed to solidify the evidence against Harry. The bodies were of Dean Thomas, Penelope Clearwater and a fifth year Hufflepuff. Now that he escaped, it was assumed that he'd found a way to continue his work.

The day before the Christmas Holidays, began, he was waiting outside a fourth year potions classroom, to see if anyone did anything suspicious when they left. It was the last class of the day. Everybody left quickly, except from Fred and George Weasley, who stayed, after everyone else had left. Fred (or George) was holding a piece of parchment. George (or Fred) was looking over his shoulder to see what it said. It seemed to Harry, almost as if he'd been found out. They were looking over in his direction suspiciously. Harry decided to start walking away.

"Potter, we know it's you, just come out from wherever you're hiding," He quickened up his pace. _Fuck._

"We can follow you, if you want?" Fred and George started walking too.

"We have a way of tracking people," Harry broke into a jog.

"Alternatively, we could just tell Dumbledore how we track people and he would find you in an instant?"

"Or, you could come out and explain why you're on the run and whether or not you opened the chamber,"

"It's entirely up to you,"

"You have five seconds. Five... Four... Three... Two..." Harry pulled the cloak off of himself. They were now at the end of a corridor, with no way out for Harry. Fred and George had their wands out and were pointing them at Harry. Their expressions looked humorous, but Harry could tell that they were dead serious.

"I'll make you a deal. I'll tell you everything, if you tell me how you track people."

"You're not in much of a position to bargain, Potter," Fred (or George) said with a feral grin on his face.

"You tell us everything, or we go to Dumbledore," George (or Fred) said. Harry sighed dramatically.

"You know, if I truly was the heir, I would kill you down here without a second thought. I escaped Azkaban, I supposedly know how to petrify someone, so what makes you think I couldn't deal with two fourth years?" The twins' grins faltered.

"You don't have a wand though," Fred (or George) said. Harry smiled.

"Who needs a wand?" Harry asked rhetorically. He conjured a flock of birds, then directed them to fly as fast as bullets inches above the twins' head. They looked slightly worried now.

"No, I didn't open the Chamber of Secrets. Yes, I am a Parselmouth. No, I am not the heir of Slytherin. Yes, I did get sent to prison. Yes I did escape. No, I'm not telling you how. I came back to Hogwarts to try and find out who the heir is. I escaped because Azkaban is a punishment worse than death for those with particularly bad memories. No, I have no idea who the heir is. No, I do not condone violence against muggle-borns. Does that answer your questions?" The twins now just looked surprised.

"Almost," George (or Fred) said. "How do we know you're telling the truth?"

"You don't." said Harry.

"What about all of the petrifications, with revenge written above them? Doesn't that relate to you getting revenge for being imprisoned?"

"Somebody's doing a damn good job of framing me. Now will you tell me how you found me?"

"You're not exactly helping us to believe you, are you?" George (or Fred) said.

"Tell you what, how about you wait until after Christmas, then come seek me out if you believe me. If not, go to Dumbledore. Deal?" Fred and George looked at each other and seemed to have a silent conversation before they turned back to Harry and said, "Deal!"

Harry nodded at them, before putting his cloak back on and walking away.

/\/\/\/\/\

Over the Christmas Holidays, Harry planned to speak to Al and see how he was coping. He was also fairly tempted to go home, to see his parents, but he knew that would put his Dad in a bad position with work. If it were ever found out that he knew the location of one of the most wanted criminals in Britain and didn't reveal it, he would lose his job as an auror. He decided to send them a letter, telling them that he was well and safe and that he didn't do it.

There were wanted posters of him up around the school. Harry found this hilarious, because they didn't have any photos of him looking insane or murderous, or even in prison. The only photos they had were happy smiling photos of him, the sort that would fit on the mantelpiece in the family living room. They said ' WANTED- DANGEROUS CRIMINAL HARRY POTTER' and beneath, there was a lovely picture of a ten year old Harry, smiling and waving at everyone who passed.

On Christmas Eve, Harry transformed into his eagle and flew home. Lily and James were both in the house, looking fairly miserable. Harry could see the purple pustules on Lily's face, the sign of Dragon Pox. He sneaked in the back door, without them noticing. He put the cloak on and walked into the living room, leaving his letter on the mantelpiece. As he was walking down the path towards the gate he heard his father's voice behind him.

"Harry? I know you're out here. The wards told me. Are you under the cloak?" His voice was quiet, as if he didn't want to alert his wife. Harry desperately wanted to turn around, but he knew that if he revealed himself, he would be made to stay and it would be the end of his father's career. Harry kept walking, tears forming in his eyes.

"Harry, please! Don't go off on your own! We don't care if you did it, just come home, please!" James sounded desperate now. He ran outside, looking for him madly. Harry kept walking. Once he was sure James wouldn't find him, he fell down onto his knees and started sobbing. He had no idea that he would react in that way. He knew he missed his parents, but he had no idea that it would be that painful hearing their voices.

Harry cried until he could cry no more, then he packed up his cloak, transformed and disappeared into the night..

/\/\/\/\/\

Harry tried to find his brother alone over Christmas, so he could talk to him, but he just seemed to disappear. He rarely showed up for meals, so Harry couldn't catch him there. Harry's next bet was to try the Gryffindor common room. The trouble was, he had no idea where it was, as you only knew the location of your own common room. He had heard people talking vaguely of 'Gryffindor Tower' but he had no idea where it was.

He followed a few Gryffindors up there, the day before school started up again. He was led to a portrait of a fat lady, which moved to let people in. Harry resolved to wait outside for his brother to come out. He didn't come.

It was approaching midnight now. Harry had been standing outside for over six hours, under the cloak. He was about to leave, when he say the portrait opened and Al stepped out. Only.. it didn't seem like Al. His eyes were vacant, but cold. He walked briskly, face and eyes forward. Harry wanted to shout out, to let him know that he was there, but something kept him silent. Something kept him from interfering. He watched 'Al' go, and decided to head back to his den for the night, pondering...

**A/N- Please read and review. Also, tell me what you think should happen next? If it's good, I might incorporate it.**


	15. The Chamber

**Disclaimer- JKR owns all.**

Months passed and Harry was no closer to finding the heir. Harry found nobody doing anything suspicious at all, in the past few months. Yet the attacks continued at a steady pace. After Christmas, there was one per month, up until March, when they stopped. The last person to be petrified was Al's friend Granger. It was now June. Professor Sprout was preparing mandrakes, to de-petrify the muggle-borns. Everyone was in considerably higher spirits. They hoped that the heir had given up, as it was now almost three months since the last attack.

Professor Dumbledore had been removed from the school by the board, due to his failing to deal with the attacks.

Harry was still wanted. He had a three thousand galleon reward on his head. According to people inside the school, whose conversations Harry had overheard, the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge wanted to give Harry the Dementor's Kiss, but he had been persuaded otherwise by his advisors, who believed that it may lead to a sway of public opinion against Fudge to give the kiss to a twelve year old.

Harry hadn't had a chance to talk to his brother since he displayed the rather odd behaviour that night. Logically, that was the most suspicious thing that Harry had noticed a student doing. If it was any other student, Harry would've tailed them to see if they partook in any suspect activities, but Harry knew that Al could never be the heir of Slytherin. He was a Gryffindor in almost every sense of the word.

One day in the middle of June, Harry was on the seventh floor looking for anything suspicious, when he heard Professor McGonagall's voice.

"All students, please return to your dormitories immediately. All staff members come to the staffroom for an emergency meeting." _The last time they did this was when Granger was attacked. I wonder who it was this time.._ Harry raced down the stairs under the invisibility cloak, against the current of Gryffindor students going up to their common rooms.

He reached the staffroom just before the meeting began. He sneaked in and stood in the corner of the room, where no-one was likely to touch him accidentally. Snape arrived seconds after Harry. After a brief check that everyone was there, McGonagall began.

"It is as we feared," McGonagall said, looking pensive. "A student has been taken into the chamber itself." Shocked gasps filled the staffroom. "Hogwarts will have to close. The students will be sent home tomorrow. Gilderoy, as the Defence teacher, it is your duty to bring the student back. I assume you will be up to the task?" Lockhart went bright red.

"Erm.. yes well, you see,"

"You were telling us all that you knew where the chamber was yesterday, Lockhart. I'm sure that if anyone is up to the job, it's you.." Snape said mockingly.

"Minerva, who is it? Who is the child that _he_ took?" Professor Sprout asked. Harry knew that the '_he_' referred to himself. McGonagall looked like she was about to cry. In barely more than a whisper, she said, "His own twin- Alan Potter."

/\/\/\/\/\

The meeting was adjourned and the staff members all filed out, to tell the students the news. Harry walked out of the staffroom, fully intending to go through every room in the castle to find the chamber, no matter how long it took him, when he heard voices from inside a classroom.

"Ron, you heard what they said, the heir has Al! He may've been distant and aggressive over the past few months but he's still our friend! We need to go and tell Lockhart where the entrance is, so he can save them." The voice belonged to Longbottom. Harry noticed that he didn't say 'Potter' or 'Harry', but 'the heir' instead.

"Lockhart's an incompetent buffoon, lets just go ourselves," Weasley said in reply. Making a split-second decision, Harry walked into the classroom and took off the cloak. The boys both jumped back in fright.

"Potter?" Longbottom said nervously.

"Yes, it's me. No I didn't open the chamber, but I would quite like to get my brother back so can you show me the entrance please?" Harry asked impatiently. Both boys stood there, with a terrified look on their faces. Harry sighed. "Longbottom, I know that you don't think that I did it, otherwise you would have said 'Potter' when talking about the heir instead of 'the heir'. Weasley, I'm a _Ravenclaw_. I'm not the heir of _Slytherin_. Can we go now?"

Weasley and Longbottom looked at each other for a moment, before turning back to Harry and nodding. "We never thought that you were the type," Weasley explained. They led him to a girls bathroom on the fourth floor.

"We think the entrance is in here somewhere," Weasley said. A ghost flew out of one of the toilets. It was female, quite young and had a scowl on her face.

"What are you three doing here? This is a _girls _bathroom!" The voice was a high pitched annoying one. After much explaining from Weasley and Longbottom, both of whom seemed to think that this girl was important in some way, the girl told them how she died. She saw some yellow eyes over by the sinks. Weasley and Longbottom said that the entrance was likely over there.

When searching, Harry noticed something odd about one of the taps. A small serpent was carved into it.

"Weasley, Longbottom I think I've found something." Harry called. They came over and examined it. "So how do we get inside then?" Weasley asked.

"I have an idea," Harry said. "_Open._" Harry's eyes widened as the sink sunk into the floor, leaving a human-sized hole in the ground. It appeared to be some sort of slide.

"You first," said Weasley worriedly.

"I thought you two were the Gryffindors," Harry smirked, before jumping down the hole. The slide was long, it seemed to take a couple of minutes to get to the bottom. It was incredibly steep, which made it incredibly fast. When Harry reached the bottom, he landed with a rattle in a pile of bones. They appeared to be in some sort of cave. A few seconds later, Weasley and Longbottom were down. They started walking away from the slide.

"Bloody hell," Weasley remarked upon seeing a fifty foot snake skin.

"Since you knew where the entrance to the chamber was, do you know what kind of snake the monster is?" Harry asked Longbottom.

"Its a basilisk. It's fifty foot long and will kill you if you look into its eyes." Longbottom said. _Well.. shit. How do we kill that?_

"How do we fight something we can't look at?" Harry asked. He didn't get an answer, as there was a loud rumble, and rocks started falling on them.

"TAKE COVER!" Harry and Longbottom ran towards a hole in the wall big enough for the two of them to huddle in. They'd lost track of Weasley though. Once the cave-in stopped, they both called out.

"Ron!" After a moment, he replied.

"I'm OK. I'm caved in though. You two go on ahead, I'll try and find my way through."

So, Harry and Longbottom continued to walk through the river of animal bones in silence, until they reached an iron porthole, with a bronze serpent locking it in place.

"You do the honours, Longbottom," Harry said. Longbottom nodded.

"_Open,_" he hissed. The bronze serpent started to unwind, leaving them free to push open the hole and climb through.

The room in which they found themselves was nothing short of amazing. It was a long, thin room, lit by torches. At equal distances along the sides, there were wooden pillars, with snakes carved into them. The floor was marble. At the far end of the room, there was a statue of Salazar Slytherin himself and below it, there was Al, lying on the floor. Both Harry and Longbottom ran over to him.

"Al, please wake up, you're my brother and you mean everything to me, even if I don't show it," Harry said desperately.

"He won't wake," A cold voice said behind him. Harry turned around and saw a sixteen year old boy in Slytherin robes. He was tall, with short dark hair and had an unnatural ghostly tinge to him, almost as if he wasn't real.

"What do you mean, he won't wake? Is he.." Longbottom didn't finish the question.

"No, not yet." The boy said. _Not yet?_

"Who are you?" Harry asked accusingly. The boy gave a harsh laugh.

"How terribly rude of me, my name is Tom Riddle. And you are?" he asked.

"Harry Potter," There was another laugh.

"Do tell, Tom Riddle, what you find so amusing about this situation?" Harry asked sardonically.

"It's quite simple, I can now meet the two people that I was most anxious to. Neville Longbottom, 'The Boy who Lived' and Harry Potter, a twelve year old prodigy, parselmouth, framed with opening the chamber of secrets and the first ever Azkaban escapee. I'd imagine you're both quite famous."

"How do you know I was framed?" Harry asked him, dreading the answer.

"I think we both know the answer to that, Harry." Tom gave him a condescending look, before saying dramatically, "I, Tom Marvolo Riddle am the heir of Slytherin,"

"That's odd," Neville said, getting up from Al's sleeping body to face Riddle. "I would've thought that the heir of Slytherin would be a pureblood, someone with a fairly famous name," Tom didn't like that. He glared at Neville.

"Let's see if this is a little more.. recognisable then, shall we?" He took out a wand, that Harry guessed was Al's before writing in the air with sparks 'TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE'. He rearranged the letters, so that it now said, 'I AM LORD VOLDEMORT'. Both Harry and Neville gasped.

"You didn't think that I would keep my filthy muggle father's name, did you? I fashioned myself a new name, one that I knew people would soon fear to speak. Now, you can probably guess why I wanted you here, Neville Longbottom. I was curious, as to how a mere baby could defeat the greatest wizard ever to have lived."

"So now you want to defeat me, to prove that you are more powerful?" Longbottom guessed.

"Correct," Longbottom shrugged his shoulders.

"Third time lucky, maybe," he mumbled to himself.

"Why me, then?" Harry asked.

"What?"

"Why did you want to meet me?"

"You and I are very similar, Harry Potter. Both of us are halfbloods, both parselmouths, both prodigies in our school days, with the opportunity to become so much more after. We even look somewhat alike. When I return to full power, I would be pleased if you would join me in my endeavours. I can teach you magic beyond your wildest dreams, Harry Potter. I can give you more power than you could ever hope to wield. I could make you immortal. You would be second in power to one person only- me." There was an almost feral grin on his face now. "Together Harry Potter, we could rule the world."

"How would you return to full power?" Harry asked, stalling for time.

"Using little Alan here and a little book of mine," Tom replied, glancing at a bound leather book on the floor as if it was obvious. Harry could hardly believe the gall of Tom Riddle.

"You want to kill my brother, then have me join you?" Harry asked incredulously. "Are you off your head?"

Tom's eyes narrowed. "Very well. Let's see how Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom fare against the basilisk. He turned his head towards the statue of Slytherin and said, " _Speak to me Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts four._" A large serpent came slithering out of Slytherin's mouth.

"Parseltongue won't save either of you now, the basilisk only obeys the heir!" Riddle said.

Both Harry and Longbottom shirked away from it, worried about looking it in the eyes and ran to the other side of the chamber. Harry pulled out his wand and turned around, eyes down.

"_Reducto!_" he hissed. The spell bounced off the basilisk as if if were a tennis ball. "_Diffindo!_" Same result. _Parselmagic must not work against snakes. Fuck._ Longbottom was firing some weak disarming charms at it, which had little effect, other than annoying the snake. _Try taking out it's eyes._ "Conjunctivitus!" he said, in English. The basilisk let out a cry.

"_MY EYES! YOUS STEALSE THEM!_" the basilisk cried. _Are they gone now? Can I look at it?_ Summoning some uncharacteristic Gryffindor courage, Harry looked up. The snake's eye sockets were bloody and empty, as if someone had gouged out its eyes. Riddle looked furious.

"_Kill them! You can still hear them!_" he shrieked.

"Longbottom! You can look at it now!" Harry said. Longbottom slowly turned round to look at it. "Fire stunners at it to distract, while I get close enough to blast its head off." Longbottom nodded. The snake was within ten metres of them now. Each stunner Longbottom hit kept the basilisk's attention fully on him, while Harry sneaked up on it, as it couldn't see. When Harry was close enough, the snake finally sensed him and opened up its mouth wide, about to clamp its jaws shut on him.

"BOMBARDA MAXIMA!" Harry yelled. There was a snapping noise, as the snake's head became fully severed from its body and flew across the chamber, landing at Tom Riddle's feet. The basilisk was dead. Riddle seemed mad with anger with a hint of.. _is that fear?_. Harry and Neville walked over to him.

"Now we just have to deal with you," Harry said, pointing his wand at Riddle. "Stupefy," the spell went straight through him. Riddle laughed softly.

"I'm just a memory, Harry Potter. Your spells will go right through me. And by the time that you're able to hit me, your brother will be dead." Harry looked around the room, frantically searching for something that he could use to get rid of Riddle and save his brother. His eyes rested on the little leather-bound book beside Al's body. Harry walked over to it and picked it up. Tom's gaze immediately became fearful. "What are you doing with that!" he shouted. Harry walked over to the basilisk's mouth and pulled out a fang, as he sensed that no spell would work on this thing. Harry raised the fang. "STOP!" yelled Riddle.

Harry plunged the fang through the book.

**A/N- Please Read and Review. We're almost through the boring parts, year three and onwards is where shit gets real and interesting.**


	16. Reparations

**A/N It's been a while... I lost a bit of motivation for writing, so it took me a bit longer to get it out. This is just a short one, I should get another one out in the next couple of days.**

They were in the Headmasters office. Harry, Longbottom, Ron and Al, along with Dumbledore, Cornelius Fudge, Lucius Malfoy and the Potters. Harry had just finished explaining what happened in the Chamber of Secrets to the adults. As he told the story, James was very pale, Lily was crying, Malfoy looked furious, Fudge looked embarrassed and Dumbledore's face gave away nothing.

"That is quite an incredible story, Harry. Given your current status, I hope you don't mind if I ask Mr Longbottom to second your tale of events?" Dumbledore said, looking at Longbottom, who quickly nodded. Al was looking very pale. "Alan, you will not be punished for your actions. Older and wiser wizards have been bewitched by Lord Voldemort. I suggest you go to the hospital wing for a night, just for observation. Your parents can take you." Al, James and Lily left the hospital wing, after James gave Harry a pat on the back and Lily gave him a hug.

"We'll talk later!" James whispered in his ear. Once they were all gone, Dumbledore spoke up again.

"Well done to all three of you. You have done the school a great service. Mr Weasley, Mr Longbottom, you will both receive an award for special services to the school and two hundred points each. You are dismissed." The boys grinned at each other, and left the office. Only Harry, Dumbledore, the minister and Lucius Malfoy remained.

"Mr Potter, I would like to apologise on behalf of the ministry for your unlawful imprisonment. You shall receive 500 galleons compensation for your troubles and are hereby cleared of all charges. I am also rather curious as to how you escaped," the minister said. Harry grinned at him.

"I'd rather not say, but if I'm ever imprisoned again, you may use veritaserum on me to find out. Thank-you for the galleons," Harry said politely. Fudge looked flustered and soon took his leave.

"Mr Malfoy, I believe this is yours?" Harry said, holding out the remains of Tom Riddle's diary. Malfoy looked at him in disgust.

"Foolish boy. In what way is that mine?" he sneered.

"Flourish and Blotts. Last August. You had an argument with my Dad and Mr Weasley and you slipped this into my brother's book pile. You planned this, to open the chamber and rid the school of muggleborns and discredit my brother and parents all in one. Quite an impressive plan.."

"Prove it!" he spat, before leaving the office. Dumbledore and Harry were the only ones left in the office now.

"Harry.." Dumbledore began.

"Don't," Harry interrupted. "Don't try and apologise for your actions. Maybe I'll forgive you later, maybe not, but talking to me now isn't going to help." Dumbledore's face fell. He quickly recovered.

"Very well. 300 points to Ravenclaw and an award for special services to the school for killing a basilisk, closing the chamber of secrets, saving a fellow student and being persistent enough to come back to save the school." Harry laughed harshly.

"So, I'm just let back in like that? One moment I'm a junior death eater, the next I'm helping Ravenclaw win the house cup?" Harry asked incredulously.

"Well.. technically you were never expelled, so you're still a student," Dumbledore said, shifting uncomfortably in his seat.

"Next you're going to tell me to go do my dormitory to get a good nights sleep, even though my classmates still believe I'm guilty!" Harry joked. Dumbledore didn't laugh. Harry noticed and sighed.

"No. Until you make an announcement in-front of the entire school that I am innocent and cleared of all charges, I am going nowhere near the rest of the school. I'll spend tonight in the hospital wing." With that, Harry walked out, leaving a bewildered Dumbledore behind.

/\/\/\/\/\

Harry went to the hospital wing, where he found his parents sitting beside Al in his bed. He saw Madam Pomfrey, who Harry realised had no idea he was innocent, so he put the cloak on, until she left. When it was just Harry and his parents left, he took off the cloak.

"How is he?" he asked his parents.

"Pomfrey said that he'd be fine in the morning, with no lasting damage." James said. The three sat in silence for a while. Lily hadn't spoken, or turned round to acknowledge Harry. Her attention was focused entirely on Al. After a few minutes, James spoke up. "Listen Harry, I'm really sorry you were put in Azkaban. I should've been there when the aurors took you. I came to visit you the first day, but by that time, you were..."

"Gone," Harry said, staring into space.

"You could've come home, you realize?" James asked.

"I did, once. But I knew that they would check there and it would also put your job in serious jeopardy." Harry said. He yawned. He was getting tired.

"Me and Lily need to leave now, but we'll come and pick you up in the morning and take you home. It's been a rough few months, but we need to spend some quality time together as a family,"

"No!" Harry said forcefully. James jumped a bit at his words. Harry softened his tone. "I mean, I need to sit my exams before I go home. I need to sit them to pass onto third year, so I may as well do them now rather than during the summer." James looked slightly hurt and confused.

"You don't know half of the material, though," James said.

"I think I'll manage," Harry said dryly. "I'm good for everything other than Herbology, so I'll just spend a couple of days studying that, then I'll be fine." James still looked upset, but he nodded.

"OK, we'll come up anyway to take Al home," With that, Harry bid his parents goodbye. It wasn't until after they left that he realised that his mother had neither spoken a word nor looked at him in the entire time in the hospital wing.

/\/\/\/\/\

The next day, Harry sneaked out of the bed at the far end of the hospital wing, where he slept beneath the invisibility cloak, so not to notify Madam Pomfrey and went down to the great Hall, still invisible. He entered the hall and the students were talking in hushed tones and had serious looks on their faces. _No-one's told them that the chamber was closed, the monster was killed, or that the culprit was apprehended,_ Harry realised. _Or that the culprit wasn't me._.

Once the majority of the students were down for breakfast, Professor Dumbledore stood up. The talking died down immediately. "Last night, a series of wonderful and miraculous events took place, that resulted in the closing of the chamber of secrets." All of the students looked shocked, then began to cheer. Dumbledore was smiling. After a while, he raised his hand for silence once more. "I want each and every one of you to listen carefully to what I am about to tell you," he said seriously. "Harry Potter is _not responsible _for the opening of the chamber, nor is he responsible for the petrification of the students. He was framed." The muttering started again. "As of today, he is back in school and he will sit his exams with the rest of you. I ask you to keep unfriendly thoughts about him to yourself, as he will not wish to be disturbed while studying, as he has a lot of catching up to do."

"Who was it then? Who opened the chamber?" a Hufflepuff boy shouted.

"A powerful dark wizard, by means of a dark artefact which he smuggled into the school," Dumbledore said, deflecting the question. "On another, completely unrelated note, Gilderoy Lockhart had been fired!"The cheering started again.

Harry walked out of the great hall, took off the cloak and walked back in. The mumbling all disappeared. There was now complete silence in the hall, as Harry sat down at the Ravenclaw table next to Anthony Goldstein and picked up some toast. Once he realised that everyone was staring at him, he lifted his head and said loudly, with a mouthful of toast, "Why ish eberywun schtaring at me?" A few people sniggered at that, but most were still silent.

/\/\/\/\/\

Later that evening, Harry went back to the Ravenclaw common room, after studying all day for Herbology. All of the chatting disappeared as soon as he entered. Everyone was staring at him again.

"For fuck's sake, do any of you actually have anything to say to me, or are you just going to stare at me like you've done for the entire day?" Harry exclaimed.

"How'd you escape Azkaban?" A third-year called Marietta Edgecombe asked.

"If I didn't tell Dumbledore or the minister, what makes you think I'd tell you?" Harry replied.

"Were you responsible for the random three-hundred points we received last night?" she continued.

"Yes."

"What did you do?"

"I fought and defeated the heir of Slytherin, with Neville Longbottom and Ron Weasley of Gryffindor,"

"Where were you hiding for the past six months?" Her questions were becoming more and more annoying.

"The Forbidden Forest,"

"Wasn't that dangerous?"

"Not if you know what you're doing."

"How did you get food?"

"I nicked it from the Great Hall."

"How did you not get caught?"

"I am a master of disguise," Harry said sarcastically.

"Who is the heir of Slytherin?"

Harry wanted to end the questioning there, so he looked her straight in the eye and said, "Lord Voldemort." Almost everyone in the common room flinched and a few of the girls screamed. Harry pushed past them all and went up to his dorm, to go to bed.

**A/N I hit 100 reviews! Woohooooooooooooooooooo! I now have a plan for what I'm going to do for year three, so I will probably update once or twice a week now, at least for the next couple of weeks until school starts. Or I might update less frequently, so I can build up a backlog of chapters in case I don't have time to write as much in the future and it gives me a regular updating schedule.**


	17. Adders and Escapes

The Potter family were all sitting at the breakfast table in Godric's Hollow. Harry was cutting up his bacon, as was James. Al was tucking in to his scrambled eggs, while Lily was eating an odd muggle food called 'cereal', when the owl carrying the daily prophet came in through the window. Lily walked over to take the paper from the owl, unrolled it and gasped. The other Potters looked over at her. It was a Tuesday.

"Mum, what is it?" Al asked.

"There was an escape from Azkaban! Dolohov escaped last night!" James went very pale, as did the two boys. Their parents had told them when they were ten years old, about how the family was attacked by death eaters just after the downfall of Voldemort. The death eater that led the attack was Antonin Dolohov. They were tortured for information related to the location of the boy who vanquished Voldemort, Neville Longbottom. Luckily the aurors arrived before too long, but both Lily and James suffered mentally more than they let on. Harry and Al weren't allowed to go out unless they were with both parents.

"Harry, Al, both of you go to your rooms, now. Your mother and I have something we need to discuss," James said.

Harry went up to his room, and lay on his bed. He laughed bitterly. _Welcome to the club of Azkaban escapees, Dolohov._ Despite his parents' fear, Harry wasn't too worried. Their home was well protected and Dolohov couldn't reach them.

/\/\/\/\/\

The Potter family were all sitting at the breakfast table in Godric's Hollow. Harry was cutting up his breakfast, as was James. Al was tucking into his scrambled eggs, while Lily was eating an odd muggle food called 'cereal', when the owl carrying the daily prophet came in through the window. Lily walked over to take the paper from the owl, unrolled it and gasped. The other Potters looked over at her. It was a Wednesday.

"I'm getting an odd sense of déjà vu" Harry remarked, to general ignorance.

"Mum, what is it?" Al asked.

"There's been another escape! Sirius Black!" James, if possible, went even more pale than he did the day before.

"Sirius?" he croaked. Harry didn't know the story of Sirius Black, only that he was a death-eater.

"Mum, what did Sirius Black do?" Al asked. Harry snorted. _Really subtle. They're not going to tell us now, are they?_

"Nothing you need to know about, you're too young," Lily admonished.

"No." James said, not looking at them.

"No?" Lily questioned, frowning slightly at her husband.

"They need to know. Especially when they go back to school. You never know what might happen." James said tonelessly. Lily was silent for a while, but once it became apparent that James wasn't going to budge, she began to talk.

"I'll start at the very beginning. When your father was at Hogwarts, he had three friends- Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew and Sirius Black. They were as close as any friends could be and rarely let any others into their clique. When they left Hogwarts, and I married your father, we decided to go into hiding. We used the Fidelius charm to hide our house. Do you know what that is?" she asked. Harry nodded, while Al shook his head. "The Fidelius is a charm that you cast over a location, hiding it completely to all but those who know the secret. The secret can only be given out by the secret keeper, no-one else can even speak of its location," Harry explained to his brother. Lily and James both looked impressed.

James continued. "Sirius was my best friend, out of the four of us and he wanted to be our secret keeper. I trusted him completely. I would've let him, if it wouldn't make him a target for You-Know-Who. I entrusted the secret to Peter Pettigrew. Peter was weak willed and a target for bullies at school. If we weren't his friends, he would've had none. This made him the least likely choice for secret keeper. Which is exactly why we did it. One day, in early November 1981, just after Neville Longbottom had defeated You-Know-Who, the death-eaters came knocking in our house. You know that the aurors arrived at the scene and took them all away soon enough. The fact that the death eaters were there meant that the secret had been betrayed. Later that day, Sirius was walking down a muggle street, when Remus and Peter confronted him. Peter said that Sirius tortured the secret out of him, according to the muggles in the vicinity. Sirius then duelled Remus and Peter and blew them up, along with several onlookers. Nothing was ever found of Remus. Of Peter, they found a finger. When they found Sirius in the street, he was laughing. He was sent to Azkaban, where he stayed. Until now." With that, James got up and walked out of the kitchen.

There was an awkward silence at the table. No-one quite knew what to say. After a few minutes, Harry spoke up. "D'you think that I should form a band with Black and Dolohov?" he mused. "We could be 'The Azkaban Escapees'.."

/\/\/\/\/\

The summer passed slowly. Neither Harry or Al were allowed to leave the vicinity of the house, so they played Quiddich a lot, but that got dull very quickly, as did talking to his family. James worked late every day, as the auror department was pooling all of its resources to look for Black and Dolohov. Halfway through August, Harry found a new conversation partner in the garden.

He and Al were racing for the snitch in a one on one game. Harry spotted it and swooped into a dive. Al quickly followed. Unfortunately, Harry wasn't meant to be a seeker and Al quickly caught up and took the snitch from right under his nose. Harry barely pulled out of the dive in time and skid along the ground before coming to a stop. From the bushes, he heard a voice.

"_Sstupid humans, disturbing my ssleeep,"_ Harry walked towards the bushes.

"_Hello?_" he said. A small adder came out of the bushes and gazed up at Harry inquisitively.

"_Yous undersstand me?_" the snake asked.

"_Yes, I can speak the language of snakes. My name is Harry Potter and I am sorry if I woke you up,_" Harry hissed. Al swooped down on his broom, so he was next to Harry.

"What're you doing down there, Harry?" Al asked.

"_Quickly, get up my sleeve!_" Harry hissed. The grass snake complied and slithered up arm.

"I lost my watch on the ground and I was searching for it, but I've found it now." Harry held up his other arm, so that Al could see his watch.

"OK, want another game?" Al queried.

"No, I think I'll go in now, I'm quite tired." Harry went inside and up to his room, closing the door behind him.

"_You may come out now,_" he said to the snake. It uncoiled itself from his arm and slithered onto the floor.

"_At lasst! I wass wondering how long I wass going to be up there!_" Harry got a proper look at the snake for the first time. It was small- about two feet long, a pure black adder.

"_You are the first snake I have found in the wild. What is your name?_" Harry asked.

"_You are the first sspeaker I have found in the wild._ _I have no name, you may call me what you wissh,_"

"_I shall call you... Edmund!_" Harry announced. At that moment, Lily walked in. Immediately, Edmund slithered up Harry's leg to hide and Harry jumped onto the bed, into an awkward position to hide his new friend. Lily looked down at him, oddly.

"Ummm.. hi Mum," Harry said.

"Hi?" Lily said uncertainly. "Could you come down to peel some potatoes for dinner please?"

"OK," Harry replied. When he didn't move, Lily stared at him, expectantly.

"Come on then!" she exclaimed.

"Umm.. I'll be down in a minute," he said.

"Oh!" Lily said, as if she'd just realised something. She quickly turned and fled. "Don't be to long!" she shouted as she slammed the door. _That was odd.._ Edmund came out from Harry's leg and back onto the floor.

"_In future, just hide under the bed!_" Harry told him irritably.

"_If you command, Master,_" the snake replied.

"_Master?_" Harry queried, surprised.

"_Of course. You have taken me for a companion, no?_" Edmund asked. _A companion? _Harry personally thought that a pet snake would only increase the rumours that he was a dark wizard, but a snake companion did sound quite badass.

"_OK, you are my companion now, Edmund. I will be back later. For now, amuse yourself in here_." Harry then went down to help with dinner.

/\/\/\/\/\

That evening after dinner, James challenged Harry to a game of chess. While surprised at the offer, for James wasn't really anywhere near Harry's league when it came to chess, Harry accepted. A few moves in, James started talking.

"So Harry, your Mum tells me she found you in an awkward position earlier this afternoon," James said, going bright red.

"Mhmmmm," Harry replied, focussing on the game and not really listening. James continued speaking, but Harry didn't hear most of it.

"..I mean, its perfectly natural, but try to be a bit more discreet?" James vaguely resembled a beetroot by this point. Harry snapped out of his chess induced trance.

"Wait, what?" Harry said, confused.

"Try and be a but more discreet, Harry. Don't do it when your likely to be caught,"

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked.

"Errm.. what you were doing this afternoon when your Mum walked in on you. Try not to be so open about it."

"You want me to be less open about playing with my pet snake?" James turned away at this point and started coughing.

"Well, that's one way to put it," he said breathlessly. Utterly clueless, Harry went back to the game, ignoring his father.

/\/\/\/\/\

The rest of the summer passed quickly. Harry had found a way to conceal Edmund in his robes, so he could come to school. He found it rather odd, that no-one even mentioned Edmund, despite that Harry told his Dad about him a couple of weeks ago. Edmund stayed in Harry's room all day and slept mainly, unless Harry felt like having a conversation.

Harry and Al weren't allowed to go to Diagon Alley to get their school things, because of Black and Dolohov, so Lily went to get them. Harry and Al were becoming extremely bored and irritable and were more than ready to go back to school.

So when the first of September came around, no-one was happier than Harry. After a panic-filled morning of last minute packing, eventually, they were ready to go on the train and arrived at Kings Cross station with three minutes to spare. Unknown to his family, he smuggled Edmund with him to the station and was going to take him to school. After quick tearful goodbyes, Harry and Al got on the train. Al immediately left to find his friends, leaving Harry to search for a compartment. He found the only empty one left on the train and soon nodded off to sleep...

**A/N Please RandR**


End file.
